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AMERICAN 
WOMEN OF 

SCIENCE 

SINCE 1900 




TIFFANY K. WAYNE 






/ 



American Women 
of Science since 1900 



American Women 
of Science since 1 900 



Tiffany K. Wayne 



Q ABC-CLIO 



Santa Barbara, California • Denver, Colorado • Oxford, England 



Copyright 2011 by ABC CLIO, LLC 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a 
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, 
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a 
review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 

Wayne, Tiffany K., 1968 

American women of science since 1900 / Tiffany K. Wayne, 
p. cm. 

Includes bibliographical references and index. 

ISBN 978 1 59884 158 9 (hard copy : alk. paper) ISBN 978 1 59884 159 6 (ebook) 
1. Women scientists United States Biography Dictionaries. 2. Women scientists United 
States History 20th century Dictionaries. 3. Women in science United States Biography 
Dictionaries. 4. Women in science United States History 20th century Dictionaries. 
I. Title. 

Q141.W42 2011 
509.2'273 dc22 2010026838 

ISBN: 978 1 59884 158 9 
EISBN: 978 1 59884 159 6 

15 14 13 12 11 12 3 4 5 

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. 
Visit www.abc clio.com for details. 

ABC CLIO, LLC 

130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 

Santa Barbara, California 931 16 1911 

This book is printed on acid free paper 00 

Manufactured in the United States of America 



Contents 



List of Essays and Entries, vii 

Acknowledgments, xvii 

Introduction, xix 

Issues, 1 

Disciplines, 61 

A-Z Entries, 179 

Women Nobel Prize Winners in the Sciences, 999 

Scientists by Discipline Index, 1001 

Chronology, 1019 

Index, 1-1 



List of Essays and Entries 



Issues, I 

History of American Women 
in Science 

Is There a Science Gene? 

The Impact of Feminism on Scientific 
Research 

Science and Technology Education 
for Girls 

Women and Science in College and 
Graduate School 



Jobs for Women Scientists: Academia 

Jobs for Women Scientists: 
Government 

Jobs for Women Scientists: Industry, 
Business, and Nonprofit Research 

Work/Life Balance for Women 
Scientists 

Minority Women in the Sciences 



Disciplines, 61 

Aerospace and Astronautics 

Animal Sciences 

Anthropology and Archaeology 

Astronomy and Astrophysics 

Biochemistry 

Biology 

Biomedical Sciences 

Botany 

Chemistry 

Computer Sciences and Information 
Technology 

Crystallography 



Economics 

Engineering 

Environmental Sciences and Ecology 

Genetics 

Geography 

Geology 

Mathematics 

Medicine 

Meteorology 

Neuroscience 

Nutrition and Home Economics 

Ocean Sciences 



VII 



viii | List of Essays and Entries 



Paleontology 

Physics 

Primatology 



Psychology and Psychiatry 

Sociology 

Zoology 



A-Z Entries, 1 79 



Aberle, Sophie Bledsoe 

Abriola, Linda M. 

Ackerman, Bernice 

Adams, (Amy) Elizabeth 

Adelman, Irma Glicman 

Agogino, Alice M. 

Ajzenberg-Selove, Fay 

Altmann, Jeanne 

Altmann, Margaret 

Ancker-Johnson, Betsy 

Anderson, Gloria (Long) 

Anderson, Mary P. 

Angier, Natalie 

Anslow, Gladys Amelia 

Apgar, Virginia 

Archambault, JoAllyn 

Attneave, Carolyn (Lewis) 

Austin, Pauline Morrow 

Avery, Mary Ellen 

Avery, Susan K. 

Baber, Mary Arizona "Zonia" 

Baca Zinn, Maxine 

Baetjer, Anna Medora 

Bahcall, Neta 

Bailey, Florence Augusta Merriam 



Banfield, Jillian F. 
Baranescu, Rodica 
Bartoshuk, Linda 
Bascom, Florence 
Bates, Grace Elizabeth 
Bateson, Mary Catherine 
Beall, Cynthia 
Beattie, Mollie Hanna 
Bell, Gwen (Dru'yor) 
Benedict, Ruth Fulton 
Benerito, Ruth Rogan 
Benesch, Ruth Erica (Leroi) 
Benmark, Leslie Ann (Freeman) 
Bennett, Joan Wennstrom 
Berenbaum, May Roberta 
Berezin, Evelyn 
Berger, Marsha J. 
Berkowitz, Joan B. 
Bertell, Rosalie 
Blackburn, Elizabeth 
Bliss, Eleanor Albert 
Blodgett, Katharine Burr 
Bonta, Marcia (Myers) 
Boring, Alice Middleton 
Boyd, Louise Arner 



List of Essays and Entries | ix 



Braun, Annette Frances 

Braun, (Emma) Lucy 

Bricker, Victoria (Reifler) 

Brill, Yvonne (Claeys) 

Briscoe, Anne M. 

Britton, Elizabeth Knight 

Brody, Jane Ellen 

Brooks, Carolyn (Branch) 

Brooks, Matilda Moldenhauer 

Broome, Claire Veronica 

Brothers, Joyce Diane (Bauer) 

Brown, Barbara B. 

Brown, Rachel Fuller 

Brugge, Joan S. 

Buck, Linda B. 

Buikstra, Jane Ellen 

Bunce, Elizabeth Thompson 

Bunting (Smith), Mary Ingraham 

Burbidge, (Eleanor) Margaret 

Butler, Margaret K. 

Cady, Bertha Louise Chapman 

Caldicott, Helen Mary (Broinowski) 

Calloway, Doris (Howes) 

Cannon, Annie Jump 

Carey, Susan E. 

Carothers, (Estrella) Eleanor 

Carr, Emma Perry 

Carson, Rachel Louise 

Caserio, Marjorie Constance (Beckett) 

Charles, Vera Katherine 

Chase, (Mary) Agnes Meara 

Chasman, Renate (Wiener) 

Chesler, Phyllis 



Chilton, Mary-Dell (Matchett) 

Chory, Joanne 

Clark, Eugenie 

Clarke, Edith 

Cleave, Mary L. 

Cobb, Geraldyne M. 

Cobb, Jewel Plummer 

Cohn, Mildred 

Cole, Johnnetta (Betsch) 

Collins, Eileen 

Colmenares, Margarita H. 

Colson, Elizabeth Florence 

Colwell, Rita (Rossi) 

Conway, Lynn Ann 

Conwell, Esther Marly 

Cordova, France Anne-Dominic 

Cori, Gerty Theresa Radnitz 

Cowings, Patricia Suzanne 

Cox, Geraldine Anne (Vang) 

Cox, Gertrude Mary 

Crane, Kathleen 

Crosby, Elizabeth Caroline 

Daly, Marie Maynard 

Darden, Christine V Mann 

Daubechies, Ingrid 

Davis, Margaret Bryan 

Davis, Ruth Margaret 

DeFries, Ruth 

De Laguna, Frederica Annis 

Delgado, Jane L. 

Delmer, Deborah 

De Planque, E. Gail 

Densen-Gerber, Judianne 



x I List of Essays and Entries 



DeWitt-Morette, Cecile Andree Paule 

Diamond, Marian Cleeves 

Dicciani, Nance Katherine 

Dick, Gladys Rowena Henry 

Donnay, Gabrielle (Hamburger) 

Downey, June Etta 

Drake, Elisabeth (Mertz) 

Dreschhoff, Gisela Auguste-Marie 

Dresselhaus, Mildred (Spiewak) 

Dunbar, Bonnie J. 

Earle, Sylvia Alice 

Eastwood, Alice 

Edinger, Tilly 

Edwards, Cecile Hoover 

Edwards, Helen Thom 

Ehrlich, Anne (Fitzhugh) Howland 

Elders, (Minnie) Joycelyn (Jones) 

Elion, Gertrude Belle 

Ellis, Florence May Hawley 

Elmegreen, Debra Meloy 

Emerson, Gladys Anderson 

Esau, Katherine 

Estrin, Thelma Austern 

Evans, Alice Catherine 

Faber, Sandra (Moore) 

Farquhar, Marilyn (Gist) 

Farr, Wanda Kirkbride 

Fausto-Sterling, Anne 

Fedoroff, Nina Vsevolod 

Ferguson, Angela Dorothea 

Ferguson, Margaret Clay 

Fink, Kathryn Ferguson 

Fischer, Irene (Kaminka) 



Fisher, Anna L. 

Fitzroy, Nancy (Deloye) 

Flanigen, Edith Marie 

Flugge Lotz, Irmgard 

Fossey, Dian 

Fowler Billings, Katharine Stevens 

Fox, Marye Anne (Payne) 

Free, Helen (Murray) 

Friend, Charlotte 

Fromkin, Victoria Alexandria (Landish) 

Fuchs, Elaine V. 

Furness, Caroline Ellen 

Gaillard, Mary Katharine (Ralph) 

Gantt, Elisabeth 

Gardner, Julia Anna 

Garmire, Elsa (Meints) 

Gast, Alice P. 

Gayle, Helene Doris 

Geiringer (Von Mises), Hilda 

Geller, Margaret Joan 

Gerry, Eloise B. 

Giblett, Eloise Rosalie 

Gibson, Eleanor Jack 

Gilbreth, Lillian E. Moller 

Gill, Jocelyn Ruth 

Gleitman, Lila R. 

Glusker, Jenny (Pickworth) 

Goeppert-Mayer, Maria 

Goldberg, Adele 

Goldhaber, Gertrude Scharff 

Goldman-Rakic, Patricia 

Goldring, Winifred 

Goldwasser, Shafrira 



List of Essays and Entries | xi 



Good, Mary (Lowe) 

Goodenough, Florence Laura 

Gordon (Moore), Kate 

Gordon, Ruth Evelyn 

Graham, Frances (Keesler) 

Graham, Norma 

Graham, Susan Lois 

Grandin, Temple 

Granville, Evelyn (Boyd) 

Grasselli (Brown), Jeanette 

Graybiel, Ann Martin 

Greene, Laura 

Greer, Sandra Charlene 

Greibach, Sheila Adele 

Greider, Carol W. 

Griffin, Diane Edmund 

Gross, Carol A. (Polinsky) 

Gross, Elizabeth Louise 

Guthrie, Mary Jane 

Guttman, Helene Augusta (Nathan) 

Haas, Mary Rosamond 

Hahn, Dorothy Anna 

Hamerstrom, Frances (Flint) 

Hamilton, Alice 

Hamilton, Margaret 

Hammel, Heidi 

Harris, Jean Louise 

Harris, Mary (Styles) 

Harrison, Anna Jane 

Harrison, Faye Venetia 

Harrison-Ross, Phyllis Ann 

Hart, Helen 

Harvey, Ethel Browne 



Haschemeyer, Audrey E. V. 

Hatfield, Elaine Catherine 

Hawkes, Kristen 

Hay, Elizabeth Dexter 

Hazen, Elizabeth Lee 

Hazlett, Olive Clio 

Healy, Bernadine Patricia 

Helm, June 

Herzenberg, Caroline Stuart 
(Littlejohn) 

Hewlett, Sylvia Ann 

Hibbard, Hope 

Hicks, Beatrice Alice 

Hockfield, Susan 

Hoffleit, (Ellen) Dorrit 

Hoffman, Darleane (Christian) 

Hollingworth, Leta Anna Stetter 

Hollinshead, Ariel Cahill 

Hopper, Grace Murray 

Horner, Matina (Souretis) 

Horning, Marjorie G. 

Horstmann, Dorothy Millicent 

Howard (Beckham), Ruth Winifred 

Howes, Ethel Puffer 

Hoy, Marjorie Ann (Wolf) 

Hrdy, Sarah C. (Blaffer) 

Huang, Alice Shih-Hou 

Hubbard, Ruth (Hoffman) 

Hughes Schrader, Sally (Peris) 

Hutchins, Sandra Elaine 

Hwang, Jennie S. 

Hyde, Ida Henrietta 

Hyman, Libbie Henrietta 



xii | List of Essays and Entries 



Intriligator, Devrie (Shapiro) 

Irwin, Mary Jane 

Jackson, Jacquelyne Mary (Johnson) 

Jackson, Shirley Ann 

Jameson, Dorothea A. 

Jan, Lily 

Jeanes, Allene Rosalind 

Jemison, Mae Carol 

Johnson, Barbara Crawford 

Johnson (Masters), Virginia 
(Eshelman) 

Johnston, Mary Helen 

Jones, Anita Katherine 

Jones, Mary Ellen 

Kalnay, Eugenia 

Kanter, Rosabeth (Moss) 

Kanwisher, Nancy 

Karle, Isabella Helen Lugoski 

Karp, Carol Ruth (Vander Velde) 

Kaufman, Joyce (Jacobson) 

Keller, Evelyn Fox 

Kempf, Martine 

Kenyon, Cynthia J. 

Kidwell, Margaret Gale 

Kieffer, Susan Werner 

Kimble, Judith 

King, Helen Dean 

King, Mary-Claire 

Klinman, Judith (Pollock) 

Knopf, Eleanora Frances Bliss 

Kopell, Nancy J. 



Koshland, Marian Elliott 

Kreps, Juanita (Morris) 

Krim, Mathilde (Galland) 

Krueger, Anne (Osborn) 

Kiibler-Ross, Elisabeth 

Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf, Doris 

Kurtzig, Sandra L. (Brody) 

Kwolek, Stephanie Louise 

LaBastille, Anne 

Ladd-Franklin, Christine 

Laird, Elizabeth Rebecca 

La Monte, Francesca Raimond 

Lancaster, Cleo 

Lancefield, Rebecca Craighill 

Leacock, Eleanor (Burke) 

Leavitt, Henrietta Swan 

Ledley, Tamara (Shapiro) 

Leeman, Susan (Epstein) 

LeMone, Margaret Anne 

Leopold, Estella Bergere 

Lesh-Laurie, Georgia Elizabeth 

L'Esperance, Elise Depew Strang 

Levelt-Sengers, Johanna Maria Henrica 

Leverton, Ruth Mandeville 

Leveson, Nancy G. 

Levi-Montalcini, Rita 

Lewis, Margaret Adaline Reed 

Libby, Leona Woods Marshall 

Linares, Olga Frances 

Lippincott, Sarah Lee 

Liskov, Barbara Huberman 



List of Essays and Entries | xii 



Lochman-Balk, Christina 

Loeblich, Helen Nina Tappan 

Long, Irene (Duhart) 

Long, Sharon (Rugel) 

Love, Susan M. 

Lubchenco, Jane 

Lubic, Ruth (Watson) 

Lubkin, Gloria (Becker) 

Luchins, Edith Hirsch 

Lucid, Shannon (Wells) 

Lurie, Nancy (Oestreich) 

Maccoby, Eleanor (Emmons) 

Macklin, Madge Thurlow 

MacLeod, Grace 

Macy-Hoobler, Icie Gertrude 

Makemson, Maud Worcester 

Maling, Harriet Mylander 

Maltby, Margaret Eliza 

Marcus, Joyce 

Margulis, Lynn (Alexander) 

Marlatt, Abby Lillian 

Marrack, Philippa Charlotte 

Martin, Emily 

Marvin, Ursula Bailey 

Mathias, Mildred Esther 

Matson, Pamela Anne 

Matthews, Alva T. 

Maury, Antonia Caetana de 
Paiva Pereira 

Maury, Carlotta Joaquina 

McCammon, Helen Mary (Choman) 

McClintock, Barbara 

McCoy, Elizabeth Florence 



McCracken, (Mary) Isabel 
McFadden, Lucy-Ann Adams 
McNutt, Marcia Kemper 
Mc Sherry, Diana Hartridge 
McWhinnie, Mary Alice 
Mead, Margaret 
Medicine, Beatrice A. 
Meinel, Marjorie Pettit 
Mendenhall, Dorothy Reed 
Menken, Jane Ava (Golubitsky) 
Michel, Helen (Vaughn) 
Micheli-Tzanakou, Evangelia 
Mielczarek, Eugenie Vorburger 
Miller, Elizabeth Cavert 
Mintz, Beatrice 
Mitchell, Helen Swift 
Mitchell, Joan L. 
Mitchell, Mildred Bessie 
Moore, Emmeline 
Morawetz, Cathleen (Synge) 
Morgan, Agnes Fay 
Morgan, Ann Haven 
Moss, Cynthia Jane 
Murray, Sandra Ann 
Napadensky, Hyla Sarane (Siegel) 
Navrotsky, Alexandra A. S. 
Nelkin, Dorothy (Wolfers) 
Neufeld, Elizabeth (Fondal) 
New, Maria (Iandolo) 
Nice, Margaret Morse 
Nichols, Roberta J. 
Nickerson, Dorothy 
Nielsen, Jerri Lin 



xiv | List of Essays and Entries 



Nightingale, Dorothy Virginia 

Northrup, Christiane 

Novello, Antonia (Coello) 

Ocampo, Adriana C. 

Ochoa, Ellen 

Ogilvie, Ida Helen 

Osborn, Mary Jane (Merten) 

Ostrom, Elinor 

Owens, Joan Murrell 

Palmer, Katherine Hilton Van Winkle 

Pardue, Mary Lou 

Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews 

Partee, Barbara (Hall) 

Patch, Edith Marion 

Pate-Cornell, (Marie) Elisabeth 
Lucienne 

Patrick, Jennie R. 

Patrick, Ruth 

Patterson, Flora Wambaugh 

Payne, Nellie Maria de Cottrell 

Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia Helena 

Payton, Carolyn (Robertson) 

Pearce, Louise 

Peckham, Elizabeth Gifford 

Peden, Irene (Carswell) 

Peebles, Florence 

Pennington, Mary Engle 

Pert, Candace Dorinda (Bebe) 

Petermann, Mary Locke 

Phillips, Melba Newell 

Pitelka, Dorothy Riggs 

Pittman, Margaret 

Pool, Judith Graham 



Poole, Joyce 
Pour-El, Marian Boykan 
Pressman, Ada Irene 
Prichard, Diana (Garcia) 
Prince, Helen Walter Dodson 
Prinz, Dianne Kasnic 
Profet, Margie 
Quimby, Edith Hinkley 
Ramaley, Judith (Aitken) 
Ramey, Estelle Rosemary White 
Rand, (Marie) Gertrude 
Ranney, Helen Margaret 
Ratner, Sarah 

Ray, (Marguerite) Dixy Lee 
Rees, Mina Spiegel 
Reichard, Gladys Amanda 
Reichmanis, Elsa 
Reinisch, June Machover 
Reskin, Barbara F. 
Resnik, Judith A. 
Richardson, Jane S. 
Ride, Sally Kristen 
Riley, Matilda (White) 
Rissler, Jane Francina 
Rivlin, Alice (Mitchell) 
Roberts, Edith Adelaide 
Roberts, Lydia Jane 
Robinson, Julia Bowman 
Roemer, Elizabeth 
Rolf, Ida P. 
Roman, Nancy Grace 
Romanowicz, Barbara 
Rose, Flora 



List of Essays and Entries | xv 



Rose, Mary Davies Swartz 

Rosenblatt, Joan (Raup) 

Rowley, Janet Davison 

Roy, Delia Martin 

Rubin, Vera (Cooper) 

Rudin, Mary Ellen (Estill) 

Rudnick, Dorothea 

Russell, Elizabeth Shull 

Sabin, Florence Rena 

Sager, Ruth 

Saif, Linda 

Sammet, Jean Elaine 

Sarachik, Myriam Paula 
(Morgenstein) 

Savitz, Maxine (Lazarus) 

Scarr, Sandra (Wood) 

Scharrer, Berta Vogel 

Schwan, Judith A. 

Schwarzer, Theresa Flynn 

Scott, Juanita (Simons) 

Seddon, Margaret Rhea 

Sedlak, Bonnie Joy 

Seibert, Florence Barbara 

Semple, Ellen Churchill 

Shalala, Donna Edna 

Shapiro, Lucille (Cohen) 

Shaw, Jane E. 

Shaw, Mary M. 

Sherman, Patsy O'Connell 

Shields, Lora Mangum 

Shipman, Pat 

Shockley, Dolores Cooper 

Shoemaker, Carolyn (Spellmann) 



Shotwell, Odette Louise 

Shreeve, Jean'ne Marie 

Simmonds, Sofia 

Simon, Dorothy Martin 

Simpson, Joanne Malkus (Gerould) 

Singer, Maxine (Frank) 

Sinkford, Jeanne Frances (Craig) 

Sitterly, Charlotte Emma Moore 

Slye, Maud Caroline 

Small, Meredith F. 

Smith, Elske (van Panhuys) 

Solomon, Susan 

Sommer, Anna Louise 

Spaeth, Mary Louise 

Spelke, Elizabeth 

Spurlock, Jeanne 

Stadtman, Thressa Campbell 

Stanley, Louise 

Stearns, Genevieve 

Steitz, Joan (Argetsinger) 

Stern, Frances 

Stickel, Lucille Farrier 

Stiebeling, Hazel Katherine 

Stokey, Nancy 

Stoll, Alice Mary 

Stroud-Lee, F. Agnes Naranjo 

Stubbe, JoAnne 

Sudarkasa, Niara 

Sullivan, Kathryn D. 

Sweeney, (Eleanor) Beatrice Marcy 

Talbot, Mignon 

Taussig, Helen Brooke 

Taussky-Todd, Olga 



xvi | List of Essays and Entries 



Taylor, Kathleen Christine 
Tesoro, Giuliana (Cavaglieri) 
Tharp, Marie 

Thomas, Martha Jane (Bergin) 
Thompson, Laura Maud 
Thornton, Kathryn (Cordell) 
Tilden, Josephine Elizabeth 
Tilghman, Shirley M. 
Tinsley, Beatrice Muriel (Hill) 
Tolbert, Margaret Ellen (Mayo) 
Townsend, Marjorie Rhodes 
Treisman, Anne 
Turkle, Sherry 
Tyson, Laura (D'Andrea) 
Uhlenbeck, Karen (Keskulla) 
Van Rensselaer, Martha 
Van Straten, Florence Wilhemina 
Vaughan, Martha 
Vennesland, Birgit 
Villa-Komaroff, Lydia 
Vitetta, Ellen Shapiro 
Waelsch, Salome Gluecksohn 
Walbot, Virginia Elizabeth 
Wallace, Phyllis Ann 
Warga, Mary Elizabeth 
Washburn, Margaret Floy 
Watson, Patty Jo (Andersen) 
Wattleton, (Alyce) Faye 



Way, Katharine 

Weertman, Julia (Randall) 

Weisburger, Elizabeth Amy (Kreiser) 

Weisstein, Naomi 

Westcott, Cynthia 

West-Eberhard, Mary Jane 

Westheimer, (Karola) Ruth (Siegel) 

Wexler, Nancy Sabin 

Wheeler, Anna Johnson Pell 

Wheeler, Mary F. 

Whitman, Marina (von Neumann) 

Whitson, Peggy A. 

Widnall, Sheila (Evans) 

Wilhelmi, Jane Anne Russell 

Williams, Anna Wessels 

Williams, Roberta 

Witkin, Evelyn Maisel 

Wood, Elizabeth Armstrong 

Woods, Geraldine (Pittman) 

Woolley, Helen Bradford Thompson 

Wright, Margaret H. 

Wrinch, Dorothy Maud 

Wu, Chien-Shiung 

Wu, Ying-Chu (Lin) Susan 

Yalow, Rosalyn Sussman 

Young, Anne Sewell 

Young, Roger Arliner 

Zoback, Mary Lou 



Acknowledgments 



I want to thank my editors at ABC-CLIO — Steven Danver for presenting this project 
to me; James Sherman for keeping me going on it; and Kim Kennedy-White for 
seeing it through to completion. 

My most sincere thanks go to Martha J. Bailey, the author of the two earlier 
ABC-CLIO volumes on American women scientists, whose research provided 
the foundation for my work here and who is, technically, the co-author of many 
of the biographical entries. Her work on women scientists began more than 
15 years ago, and I hope she is proud to have her name still attached to the project. 

Thanks to Kally Kedinger and Michelle Delgado for tracking down scientists and 
citations, and handling my last-minute and often confusing research requests with 
grace and professionalism. Appreciation goes also to all of the scientists who 
responded to our email queries and provided up-to-date information on their work. 

My family has shown unwavering enthusiasm and patience for my often slow- 
going work. David Wayne has encouraged me in all of my pursuits and has always 
given me the freedom and the space (mental and physical) to do my work. So 
many of the women scientists profiled here trace their own passions and interests 
back to childhood, and I hope that Miles and Lillian — with their love of nature 
and animals, and their innate curiosity about the world — will read this book and 
be inspired to hold onto those passions and to continue to dream big. 



XVII 



Introduction 



Nineteenth-century astronomer Maria Mitchell noted in an 1875 address to the 
Association for the Advancement of Women (of which she was the first president) 
both "how much women need exact science" and "how much science needs 
women" (Wyer 2001, 3). Her words could not be truer today. Science and technol- 
ogy are more important than ever to our society as we become a postindustrial 
high-tech "knowledge" society. It is important that science takes women into 
account, but women want and need to participate in the creation of that knowledge 
as well. 

Women have reached the heights of achievement in the sciences and hold some 
of the most visible positions. Several women scientists now serve as presidents of 
major research universities, and in 2009, President Barack Obama appointed 
women scientists as directors of government research agencies such as the U.S. 
Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA). Women have soared, so to speak, to the stars with 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as astronauts, shuttle 
pilots, and members of the International Space Station. Women scientists serve on 
international advisory councils, affecting policy on everything from global 
warming to public health, and have founded and led biotechnology, pharmaceutical, 
and computer software companies. Women are professors, deans of medical and 
engineering schools, directors of research centers, inventors, and Nobel Prize 
laureates. A girl growing up in the twenty-first century will seem to have no lack 
of role models, no limits to her own interests and pursuits. 

The history of women in science, however, is the history of not only individual 
achievement, but of social attitudes, institutional barriers, and legislative and 
policy initiatives. It is important to realize that access, beginning with the early 
education and recruitment of girls and young women into the sciences, is the first 
step to women's success in the sciences. Women have fought hard for that access 
and for opportunities for gainful employment, confronting the attitudes of employ- 
ers, coworkers, family members, and society at large, many of whom have been 



XIX 



xx I Introduction 

resistant to change. From the belief that women are not as interested or as capable 
in science as men, to society's inability (or refusal) to create family-friendly work- 
places, women have been engaged in a century-long struggle for access to educa- 
tion and careers in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics 
(collectively known as "STEM"). 

While individual women have achieved the pinnacles of success, women as a 
group are still underrepresented in professional recognitions, such as with member- 
ship in the National Academy of Science and the National Academy of Engineering. 
In 2009, for example, only 1 1 women out of 72 new members were elected to the 
National Academy of Sciences. Likewise, although several high-profile women have 
won Nobel Prizes in the sciences — and 2009 was a particularly good year for 
women, with three American women scientists (and one Israeli woman scientist) 
named as winners — in the history of the Nobel Prize, only 35 women have won in 
any category out of a total of 789 prizes awarded; of these 35 women, only 15 have 
been in the sciences. 

The past several decades have seen steady increases in the numbers of women 
earning science degrees and entering science and engineering professions, but 
there is still a small percentage of women at the highest levels. In 2006, women 
earned 38.4% of STEM doctorates. The numbers and percentages vary greatly 
by field, with women earning nearly 50% of Ph.D.s in the biological sciences, 
56% in anthropology, and greater than 70% in psychology, the most popular field 
for women in the sciences. But women earn significantly lower percentages of 
doctorates in other disciplines, including only 20% of doctorates in combined 
engineering fields and only 16.6% of Ph.D.s in physics (NSF Table F-2). 1 There 
are also fewer women the higher up the academic career ladder one goes. In 
2006, women made up 31% of all science and engineering faculty, but only 25% 
of tenured faculty and only 19% of full professors in science and engineering 
fields (NSF Table H-25). 

In her 1988 AAAS presidential address (speaking more than 100 years after 
Maria Mitchell), Sheila Widnall outlined the problem of this "leaky pipeline" that 
has come to define women's representation in the sciences. The problem begins as 
early as high school, when boys and girls still have nearly equal interests and 
grades in subjects such as math. By the end of high school, boys will slightly 



Note that these numbers include only Ph.D.s, or research based fields, and do not include profes 
sional degrees of M.D., D.D.S., D.Pharm., or Psy.D.; nor do they include second doctorates, so that 
persons changing or combining fields may only be counted in the first field. It is worth noting that 
inclusion of these other degrees and occupations might significantly alter the overall numbers of 
women in science related fields. See notes on "Survey of Earned Doctorates" at http://www 
.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates/. 



Introduction | xxi 

outnumber girls in completion of higher-level mathematics courses, but the first 
major split occurs when choosing a college major, with nearly three times as many 
boys selecting science and engineering paths. A high percentage of women who 
do major in STEM subjects will complete their degrees and go on for a master's 
degree, but another drop or split occurs between men and women who continue 
on for the doctorate. Widnall created a hypothetical scenario (based on the current 
statistics) in which, out of 2,000 ninth graders (1,000 boys and 1,000 girls) taking 
comparable high-level mathematics courses, 140 men and 44 women will go on to 
major in STEM in college; of these, 46 men and 20 women will receive bachelor's 
degrees, but only 5 men and 1 woman will receive the science or engineering 
Ph.D. (Widnall 1988). The particular struggles facing women at each of these vari- 
ous stages along the educational and career path are addressed separately in the 
"Issues" section that follows. 

The gender wage gap, glass ceiling, and work/life balance are not just issues for 
women in the sciences, but affect women across the professions. Women's access, 
opportunity, and success in the professions is intertwined with other issues in 
twentieth-century American history, such as social and economic changes, 
government needs and policy, and the rise of feminism. The larger question of 
"women in science" is actually twofold; it is the question of women's presence 
and representation in scientific disciplines and employment, as well as the ques- 
tion of what effect women's presence has on science itself. There are, therefore, 
both quantitative and qualitative questions to consider when talking about women 
in the sciences. The statistics show that the numbers of women in STEM disci- 
plines and careers has steadily increased over the course of the twentieth century, 
but we must also consider how women (and feminism) have changed science itself 
in terms of the questions asked, the methodologies used, and the new knowledge 
discovered. 

The present volume addresses both aspects of this history and the status of 
American women in science since 1900 by looking across the century at the work 
done by more than 500 individual women, and their innovations and contributions, 
as well as the challenges they faced in pursuing that work. The book includes the 
following sections: "Issues" (ten essays on specific topics related to American 
women in science, such as education, employment sectors, minority women, etc.), 
"Disciplines" (entries on the presence and impact of women in 29 different scientific 
fields, such as biology, chemistry, physics, etc.), and the biographical entries from 
AtoZ. 

This work is an update, revision, and expansion of Martha Bailey's original 
two-volume biographical dictionaries, American Women in Science: Volume I 
(1994) and American Women in Science: 1950 to the Present (1998). The present 
volume focuses only on those scientists who lived and had significant career 



xxii | Introduction 

activity after 1900, updating or revising many of Bailey's original entries and add- 
ing new entries on significant early women scientists not included in Bailey's 
original volumes. Carrying the story of American women in science forward, this 
volume also updates the career information and accomplishments of many scien- 
tists still working since Bailey's report of 1998, and adds entries on a new genera- 
tion of scientists emerging in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. 

Reaching back to the nineteenth century, Bailey included many more women 
who were not necessarily professionally trained as scientists or did not conduct 
scientific research, but who supported scientific work through writing, indexing, 
cataloging, or popularizing scientific information. In preparing the present vol- 
ume, however, I eliminated many entries on women who were certainly pioneers 
in their fields, but who did not hold regular positions as researchers or teachers 
of science; these were usually in fields opened to and heavily dominated by 
women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as nutrition, bot- 
any, ornithology, and nature writing and illustrating. Women in the earlier part of 
the century often had more eclectic careers than their later counterparts — they 
combined research and travel (often self-funded) with writing, illustrating, and 
teaching, not only in colleges or universities, but in public schools as well. Many 
(although not all) women of that crucial turn-of-the-century era did gain access 
to higher education, but still were not always able (or chose not) to secure perma- 
nent, formal, or regular employment. In some cases, I eliminated entries for which 
there simply was not enough specific career information available. And although I 
cut out much of the personal information Bailey had collected for the original vol- 
umes, some of that information on individual women's experiences of combining 
work and family life, advice to young women scientists, and specific instances of 
discrimination or other bias over the course of their careers has made its way into 
my summaries in the "Issues" and "Disciplines" sections of this book. I refer read- 
ers to Bailey's Volume I for a more thorough overview of women's roles in the sci- 
entific disciplines in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and, although our 
projects and purposes were originally quite different, I am indebted to her recovery 
of and preliminary research on many of those early scientists. 

The focus in this volume is primarily on women who made significant impacts 
in their fields and who received professional recognition for their work, whether 
through career positions and advancement, membership in professional societies, 
or scientific awards and honors. However, my criteria for inclusion itself was an 
inexact science, and I also maintained a sampling of early women who worked 
in less represented fields, even if they did not have significant research contribu- 
tions (for example, including a few representative women as early astronomers, 
entomologists, botanists, mathematicians, paleontologists, and geologists). I also 
sought to emphasize women who accomplished "firsts" in their careers, to 



Introduction | xxii 

emphasize to readers the relatively recent history in which women scientists have 
begun to break down the barriers in specific disciplines. I included many women 
who were the first presidents of professional scientific societies, the first to receive 
doctorates in specific disciplines, the first faculty members in specific institutions, 
or women scientists who worked at high levels of government or academia, on 
presidential councils, cabinets, or as university presidents. In deciding which dis- 
ciplines to include, I looked to the sections of the National Academy of Sciences; 
the emphasis, therefore, is on the physical and natural sciences, although some 
social scientists are included. The resulting list is certainly not inclusive, and 
undoubtedly there will be names or accomplishments or disciplines I have missed. 
As with any reference work, the hope is that readers and students will be inspired 
to further research these and other women in the history of American science. 

Although the women scientists profiled here lived and worked within the spe- 
cific social and political contexts of twentieth-century America, it is worth noting 
that, in terms of research commitments, career paths and affiliations, and scientific 
advances, a somewhat false line is drawn between the work of U.S. and non-U.S. 
scientists. Indeed, many women profiled here participated in projects and profes- 
sional networks that were international in scope. Non-U.S. women came to the 
United States for education or jobs, and American women pursued fellowships 
or visiting appointments abroad. Some of the greatest achievements by individual 
women scientists of the twentieth century belong to European researchers, such as 
physicist Marie Curie of France and her daughter, Irene Joliet-Curie, both of 
whom won Nobel Prizes; English crystallographer Rosalind Franklin; German 
physicist Lise Meitner; or British primatologist Jane Goodall. While these figures 
are not included in the present volumes, other foreign-born women who spent 
the majority of their careers or achieved their highest successes employed in 
American institutions are included. Of course, women scientists around the world 
continue to work together through collaboration and through professional organi- 
zations that recognize the broader challenges to women's education and advance- 
ment in the sciences, regardless of national origin. Many other fine volumes exist 
that take a broader view of women's scientific contributions and work, either 
across regional boundaries or with a longer chronological view. 

References and Further Reading 

Abir-Am, Pnina G. and Dorinda Outram. Uneasy Careers and Intimate Lives: Women in 
Science, 1789 1979. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987. 

Ambrose, Susan A. 1997. Journeys of Women in Science and Engineering: No Universal 
Constants. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. 

Bart, Jody, ed. 2000. Women Succeeding in the Sciences: Theories and Practices across 
Disciplines. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press. 



xxiv | Introduction 

Hanson, Sandra L. 1996. Lost Talent: Women in the Sciences. Philadelphia, PA: Temple 
University Press. 

Herzenberg, Caroline L. 1986. Women Scientists from Antiquity to the Present. West 
Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill Press. 

Kass-Simon, G. and Patricia Fames, eds. 1990. Women of Science: Righting the Record. 
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. 

Kirkup, Gill and Laurie Smith Keller, eds. 1992. Inventing Women: Science, Technology, 
and Gender. Cambridge, MA: B. Blackwell. 

Morse, Mary. 1995. Women Changing Science: Voices from a Field in Transition. New 
York: Insight Books. 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-2. S&E doctoral degrees awarded to women, by 
field: 1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and 
Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, 
Survey of Earned Doctorates, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/ 
tabf-2.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. 2006. "Table H-25. S&E doctorate holders employed in uni- 
versities and 4-year colleges, by broad occupation, sex, race/ethnicity, and faculty rank: 
2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. 
National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of Doc- 
torate Recipients, 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh-25.pdf. 

Rosser, Sue V. 1997. Re-engineering Female Friendly Science. New York: Teachers 
College Press. 

Rosser, Sue V. 2004. The Science Glass Ceiling: Academic Women Scientists and the 
Struggle to Succeed. New York: Routledge. 

Rosser, Sue v. 2008. Women, Science, and Myth: Gender Beliefs from Antiquity to the 
Present. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. 

Rossiter, Margaret. 1982. Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940. 
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Bossiter Margaret. 1995. Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 1940 
1972. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Ruddick, Sara and Pamela Daniels, eds. 1977. Working It Out: 23 Women Writers, Artists, 
Scientists, and Scholars Talk about Their Lives and Work. New York: Pantheon Books. 

Schiebinger, Londa L. 1989. The Mind Has No Sex?: Women in the Origins of Modern Sci- 
ence. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 

Stanley, Autumn. 1995. Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History 
of Technology. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. 

Tang, Joyce. 2006. Scientific Pioneers: Women Succeeding in Science. Lanham, MD: 
University Press of America. 



Introduction | xxv 

Vare, Ethlie Ann and Greg Ptacek. 1988. Mothers of Invention: From the Bra to the Bomb; 
Forgotten Women & Their Unforgettable Ideas. New York: Morrow. 

Warren, Wini. 1999. Black Women Scientists in the United States. Bloomington: Indiana 
University Press. 

Wasserman, Elga. 2002. The Door in the Dream: Conversations with Eminent Women in 
Science. Washington D.C.: Joseph Henry Press, 2002. 

Whaley, Leigh Ann. 2003. Women's History as Scientists: A Guide to the Debates. Santa 
Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. 

Widnall, Sheila E. 1988. 'AAAS Presidential Lecture: Voices from the Pipeline." Science 
241: 1740 1745. (September 30, 1988). 

Wyer, Mary et al. 2009. Women, Science, and Technology: A Reader in Feminist Science 
Studies. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge. 



Issues 



History of American Women in Science 

The history of American women's contribution to the scientific endeavor is not 
merely a story of forward progression from exclusion to full participation as 
equals. Rather, the history of women in science moves from early access and par- 
ticipation as amateurs, to the closing of the professions through specialization and 
university-based (doctoral-level) scientific endeavor in the late nineteenth and 
early twentieth centuries, to expanded opportunities for women in education and 
employment in the latter half of the twentieth century. Likewise, it is a story that 
is repeated, with some variations, throughout the world, as women's contributions 
to scientific knowledge vary by country and region as different social and political 
circumstances influence women's access to education and employment. 

In the United States, the scientific revolution of the eighteenth century brought 
with it a new professional identity for scientists, and much of what had been tradi- 
tional knowledge and the realm of women (agriculture, animal care, herbs and 
medicines, care of the sick, and midwifery) — or at least accessible to women as 
amateur observers and recorders of the natural world (through botany, chemistry, 
and astronomy, for example) — slowly became the realm of self-proclaimed pro- 
fessional scientists and doctors. The professionalization of scientific endeavor 
led to the exclusion of women justified, ironically, by new scientific studies of 
the era that proclaimed the physical and intellectual differences of men and 
women and, not surprisingly, the inferiority of women's bodies and minds. 

Although the first scientific organizations and scientific journals (in fields such 
as natural history, botany, chemistry, and medicine) were founded soon after the 
American Revolution, the first major professional societies were not founded until 
the mid-nineteenth century. For example, the American Medical Association (AMA) 
was founded in 1847, the American Association for the Advancement of Science 
(AAAS) in 1848, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1863 (the first female 
member of the NAS, Florence Sabin, was not elected until 1925), and the American 



2 | American Women of Science since 1900 




Museum of Natural History opened in 
New York in 1869. The nineteenth cen- 
tury was the era of the consolidation of 
scientific interest and specialization, 
with the American Dental Association 
in 1859, the American Society of 
Civil Engineers in 1867, and both 
the American Physical Society and 
the Astronomical and Astrophysical 
Society of America (precursor to today's 
American Astronomical Society) were 
founded in 1899. The U.S. government 
also established its commitment to sci- 
ence by the mid-nineteenth century with 
the creation not only of the NAS, but 
also the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
(USDA), created in 1862, and the U.S. 
Geological Survey (USGS) in 1879. 

These first formal educational pro- 
grams and professional organizations 
did not always exclude women specifi- 
cally, but they were founded at a time 
when women were generally excluded from the institutions of higher education 
necessary for advancement in the professions and thus professional acknowledge- 
ment. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was estab- 
lished in 1865 and did not explicitly deny women entry, although its first female 
student, chemist Ellen Swallow Richards, was not admitted until 1 870 and female 
applicants were not regularly admitted until 1883. Richards, indeed, had a special 
role as an early woman at MIT and became the college's first female instructor as 
well. Some organizations included many "lay" (nonprofessional) members, and 
were thus more open to practicing female scientists. In 1850, Maria Mitchell, 
who had been educated by her father and had discovered a comet in 1847, became 
the first female member of the AAAS. Mitchell became professor of astronomy at 
Vassar College, and is considered the first professional American woman scientist. 
Through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many women prac- 
ticed science outside of academia, working as illustrators, specimen collectors, or 
popular writers on topics such as botany and ornithology. Many more women 
worked behind the scenes, as lab or research assistants for male professors or as 
assistants or unpaid collaborators in support of their husbands' higher-profile 
careers. Still others, having studied science as undergraduates and with or without 



Physician Florence Sabin was the first woman 
to hold a full professorship at Johns Hopkins 
School of Medicine and, in 1925, became the 
first woman elected to the National Academy 
of Sciences. (National Library of Medicine) 



Issues | 3 



Margaret Cavendish 

Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623-1673) 
is considered England's first woman scientist and was a prolific writer on topics 
related to science and natural history. She was one of the earliest women writers 
to publish under her own name and contributed to some of the key ideas of the 
scientific revolution, including the separation of religious belief from scientific 
inquiry, the establishment of a scientific method, and arguments for animal rights. 
As a member of "The Newcastle Circle" salon, she debated with some of the 
most important philosophers of the seventeenth century, including Thomas 
Hobbes and Rene Descartes. She promoted her own ideas, sometimes directly 
challenging other prominent thinkers, through the publication of several works, 
including Philosophical Letters: or, Modest Reflections upon some Opinions in 
Natural Philosophy, Philosophical and Physical Opinions, and Observations upon 
Experimental Philosophy, often sending copies of her books to university schol- 
ars. She also published a Utopian romance, The Blazing World, considered one 
of the earliest works of science fiction. Cavendish was the first woman allowed 
to visit meetings of the newly created Royal Society of London, which did not 
admit women as members until the twentieth century. 



advanced degrees, taught science at the high school level or in women's colleges, 
helping to establishing first-rate programs for women. The first co-educational 
college was Oberlin College, founded in Ohio in 1833. Oberlin accepted not only 
female students, but African American students as well, although only certain 
programs were initially open to women. Swarthmore College was founded in 
Pennsylvania in 1864 and was also co-educational, and the nineteenth century 
saw the creation of the "Seven Sisters" East Coast women's colleges — Mount 
Holyoke (1837), Vassar (1865), Smith (1875), Wellesley (1875), Radcliffe 
(1879), Bryn Mawr (1885), and Barnard (1889) — several of which were begun as 
female auxiliaries or annexes to male schools or programs. 

The establishment of the land-grant colleges in the Midwest beginning in 
the mid-nineteenth century also opened up women's access to education in 
agriculture-related fields such as animal sciences, biology, nutrition, and home eco- 
nomics. And although many women scientists pursued their educations and careers 
as teachers at women's colleges, some advanced through positions at co-ed and black 
schools. In 1879, for example, Josephine Silone Yates became the first woman to be 
appointed professor and head of Natural Sciences at Lincoln University in Missouri. 

The first medical colleges were established and the first scientific doctorates 
were awarded in the mid- to late nineteenth century, securing formal and certifi- 
cated higher education as the standard for the professional title of "scientist." 



4 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Women's rights activists and health reformers pushed for women's access to the 
most prestigious medical colleges and helped create the first women's medical col- 
leges and hospitals. The first woman to earn a medical degree was Elizabeth 
Blackwell in 1849 (from Geneva College in New York). In 1857, Blackwell 
opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, where she also trained 
other women physicians. Only 30 years after its founding did the American Medi- 
cal Association elect its first female member (AMA, "Women Physicians"). By the 
turn of the century, the first women received advanced degrees in the sciences. By 
1889, only 25 American women held doctorates, 6 of them science degrees; within 
just a decade, by 1900, that number had risen to more than 200 doctorates awarded 
to women, one-quarter of those in the sciences and mathematics (Rossiter 1982, 
35-36). 

Bryn Mawr College was the first women's college to offer the Ph.D., and grad- 
uates often went on to careers as teachers at the women's colleges. By the early 
twentieth century, schools such as Mt. Holyoke, Vassar, and Smith had built 
exceptional undergraduate science programs in fields from astronomy and chemis- 
try to botany and zoology, making science an acceptable course of study for 
women and training a new generation of women scientists. With heavy teaching 
and administrative duties, however, the female faculty at women's colleges did 
not publish as often as male faculty or otherwise achieve recognition as research 
scientists. It is also notable that female faculty rarely, if ever, married, as combin- 
ing career and family remained a primary challenge for professional women, 
including women scientists, throughout the twentieth century. 

The situation for women's higher education continued to improve through the 
early decades of the new century. The 1910s were a historic high for women 
receiving medical degrees, and the 1920s were the first peak for women receiving 
other scientific doctorates in the United States. So positive was the outlook for the 
future of women scientists that the president of Bryn Mawr College declared 
confidently in 1921 that "the doors of science have been thrown wildly open 
to women." Indeed, throughout the 1920s, women were earning an average of 50 
science doctorates a year, and that number tripled in the 1930s (Rossiter 1982, 
35). The number of women earning doctorates in the physical and biological 
sciences dropped between the 1940s and 1960s, finally climbing again beginning 
in the 1970s with the advent of modern feminism and policies promoting equity 
in education and employment. 

During and immediately after World War II, the federal government had a new 
commitment to scientific research in the name of military technology and then the 
Cold War-era nuclear arms and space exploration races. The new government 
science mandate, combined with a shortage of men due to the war, provided new 
opportunities for women scientists and engineers in academic and government 



Issues | 5 



Hedy Lamarr 

Austrian-bom actress Hedy Lamarr (1913-2000; born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler) 
was a beloved Hollywood star of the mid-twentieth century, but she was also an 
inventor. Lamarr and her colleague, American composer George Antheil, received 
a patent in 1942 for their "Secret Communications System," a method of securing 
radio transmissions via a special code or frequency shifting between transmitter 
and receiver that could not be intercepted by enemy forces. They developed the 
system during World War II as a contribution to efforts to defeat the Nazis, but 
the system was not put into use by the U.S. military until two decades later, during 
the Cuban Missile Crisis of the early 1960s. By that time, the patent had expired 
and neither Lamarr nor Antheil received any compensation for their invention. 
Lamarr chose acting over inventing, however, and went on to have a successful 
film career, appearing in dozens of films with the biggest names in Hollywood of 
the 1 940s and 1 950s. The transmission technology she helped develop had enor- 
mous significance as the basis of later wireless communications systems via cel- 
lular phone, modems, faxes, and the Internet. In 1997, Lamarr and Antheil were 
recognized with a Pioneer Award of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and 
Lamarr was the first woman to receive the prestigious BULBIE Gnass Spirit of 
Achievement Award for inventors. 



research positions. In the 1940s and 1950s, women made their mark in medicine as 
well as in the fields of nuclear science, crystallography, engineering, and aero- 
space. Although the numbers of women entering science increased exponentially 
in these years, the overall percentage of women among college students remained 
low due to the extraordinary number of men receiving degrees through the GI Bill 
for education for returning veterans. After the war, the numbers of women earning 
doctorates continued to climb, but the job market for women scientists in the 
1950s and 1960s was still difficult, due to social pressures (such as the postwar 
emphasis on women's domestic roles) and a decreased labor need (due to the 
availability of more male scientists), especially in the higher-level research posi- 
tions. In this social and economic climate, women who held college degrees had 
a difficult time finding jobs to fit their education, and women who did secure such 
jobs faced discrimination and challenges specific to the era; for example, in an 
environment with little social support or even acknowledgement of women's 
workplace contributions, there was little social or political attention to issues such 
as unequal pay or access to childcare. 

Still, many women scientists continued to forge ahead during and after the war. 
Women found careers with government research projects such as U.S. Army nutri- 
tion and medical studies, crop and animal studies for the more science-oriented 



6 | American Women of Science since 1900 

USDA, and work on the atomic bomb with the Manhattan Project. The federal 
government funded scientific research for its own projects as well as for academic 
and industrial or corporate research projects. The World War II-era dislocation of 
many European scientists, followed by the Cold War emphasis on scientific and 
technological progress as a sign of political strength (the rise of the "military- 
industrial complex"), meant that many foreign scientists found their way to the 
United States for educational and employment opportunities as well. 

In the 1960s and 1970s, new social and political concerns about equity brought 
the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which outlawed 
discrimination, both overt and covert, that had previously been the status quo for 
women in the workplace. The women's movement introduced the term "sexism" 
and pushed for legislation that guaranteed not only equal access (opening up non- 
traditional fields for women, such as military combat and firefighting) but also 
equal treatment in educational and employment environments, challenging dis- 
criminatory hiring (separate male and female job ads), unequal pay, and sexual 
harassment, among other issues. These social and political changes also made it 
more important than ever to track women's entrance into and progress in different 
fields of study and employment. By the early 1980s, efforts were made to keep 
regular statistics on women in science, to track progress (or lack thereof) in con- 
crete numbers and percentages, and to bringer wider public awareness to areas 
where women and minorities were underrepresented. Finally, the women's move- 
ment brought attention to subtler forms of discrimination and their effect on wom- 
en's educational and career pursuits. Feminist sociologists and psychologists 
began to study how gender roles and expectations were ingrained in family 
dynamics, childrearing practices, elementary school classrooms, and, finally, on 
the job, all of which discouraged girls and women from, in this case, pursuing 
science- and technology-related majors and careers in the first place. 

By the early 1980s, women reached the point of earning fully half of all under- 
graduate degrees awarded, and in 2006, women earned close to 58% of bachelor's 
degrees in all fields combined (NSF Table C-14). In 2006, women actually earned 
a slightly higher number of science and engineering bachelor's degrees than men, 
but the problem extends beyond the undergraduate years in a phenomenon some 
have called "the leaky pipeline"; that is, the higher up one moves through the edu- 
cational and career pipeline, the fewer women are present. Despite equal numbers 
of women and men receiving science-related bachelor's degrees, in 2006, women 
accounted for only 38.4% of combined science and engineering doctorates (NSF 
Table F-2). (Note that this includes research doctorates only, and NSF science 
figures do not include the M.D., D.D.S., Psy.D., or D.Pharm. degrees.) Continuing 
along the career path, women made up only 24% of employed American scientists 
and engineers in all professions (NSF Table H-7) and 25% of tenure-track faculty 



Issues | 7 

(NSF Table H-25). Even fewer women scientists (19% in 2006) are represented 
among the highest faculty rank in academia, that of full professor (NSF Table H-25). 
Researchers since the 1980s have discussed the source and solutions for educa- 
tional disparities and established programs to encourage girls and young women 
to pursue science, engineering, and math majors and careers. While women 
have gained access to science-related education, and it is no longer socially 
acceptable or legal to limit the educational or vocational pursuits of girls and 
women, the subtler forms of discrimination and barriers still remain for women 
scientists and affect many men as well, such as the tensions between family life 
and work expectations, lack of affordable childcare, or the need to change the 
tenure clock in academia. The history of American women in science so far 
reveals not so much a clear march of progress, but a series of forward movements 
and continued obstacles, a history still being written. 

References and Further Readings 

American Medical Association. "Women Physicians and the AMA." Timelines AMA His- 
tory. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/our-history/timelines-ama-history/ 
women-physicians-ama.shtml. 

"Chronology of Science in the United States, 1790 1910." http://home.earthlink.net/ 
~claellioU7chronmain.htm (accessed 7/24/09). Adapted from Clark A. Elliott, History 
of Science in the United States: A Chronology and Research Guide. New York and 
London: Garland Publishing, 1996. 

Levin, Miriam R. 2005. Defining Women's Scientific Enterprise : Mount Holyoke Faculty 
and the Rise of American Science. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England. 

National Science Foundation. "Table C-14. Bachelor's degrees, by race/ethnicity, citizen- 
ship, sex, and field: 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science 
and Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, 
special tabulations of U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education 
Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Completions Survey, 
2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabc-14.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-2. S&E doctoral degrees awarded to women, by 
field: 1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and 
Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, 
Survey of Earned Doctorates, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/ 
tabf-2.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-7. Employed scientists and engineers, by occupa- 
tion, highest degree level, race/ethnicity, and sex: 2006." Women, Minorities, and Per- 
sons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. National Science Foundation, 
Division of Science Resources Statistics, Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System 
(SESTAT). http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh-7.pdf. 



8 | American Women of Science since 1900 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-25. S&E doctorate holders employed in univer- 
sities and 4-year colleges, by broad occupation, sex, race/ethnicity, and faculty rank: 
2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. 
National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of 
Doctorate Recipients, 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh-25.pdf. 

Rossiter, Margaret. 1982. Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940. 
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1995. Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 
1940 1972. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Schiebinger, Londa. 1999. Has Feminism Changed Science? Cambridge, MA: Harvard 
University Press. 

Wyer, Mary et al. 2009. Women, Science, and Technology: A Reader in Feminist Science 
Studies. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge. 



Is There a Science Gene? 

The debates over sex-based differences when it comes to scientific interest and 
ability are not new. The scientific revolution of the eighteenth century brought 
new credibility to explanations for the significance of differences between male 
and female anatomy, skull size and shape, and brain size, among other anatomical 
features, as well as the social significance of racial differences. Science, in the 
name of "nature," has often been used to justify keeping women (and racial minor- 
ities) from educational and professional opportunities. As social and educational 
barriers to women's full participation in science have been removed, the fact 
remains that there are still fewer female than male scientists. If we have reached 
a historic moment of both equal access and condemnation of gender discrimina- 
tion, then how to explain women's continued minority presence in science and 
engineering careers? The question remains: Can the smaller numbers of women 
scientists be explained by social factors alone, or are there biological or innate fac- 
tors to consider? And if there are identifiable genetic or neurological differences 
between the sexes, do such differences, in turn, explain differences in math test 
scores or, more generally, do they explain anything about ability or aptitude for 
skills required in the sciences, engineering, and math? 

This was the set of questions addressed by Harvard University president 
Lawrence Summers at a 2005 conference on "Diversifying the Science & Engi- 
neering Workforce." While Summers addressed several possibilities to explain 
the smaller numbers of women in high-level scientific research and faculty posi- 
tions, the most controversial aspect of his remarks was the suggestion that there 
are innate differences between the sexes that limit women's interest in and aptitude 



Issues | 9 

for science and math — what he called a "different availability of aptitude at the 
high end." Summers specifically addressed the fact that there are fewer women 
scientists the higher up the professional ladder one climbs, and came up with a for- 
mula that accounted for the fact that the top-level scientists (he specifically 
focused on physics, perhaps the most prestigious scientific discipline precisely 
because it is seen as so difficult, thus requiring some innate talent rather than mere 
education) are already smarter than the general population, so that any differences 
in aptitude between the sexes among talented individuals will become more appar- 
ent the higher one advances. Summers referred to the greater number of male 
physicists as an "unfortunate truth" that he wished could be explained away as 
"a serious social problem," but that must take into account other factors, such as 
"taste differences between little girls and little boys that are not easy to attribute 
to socialization." In other words, if parenting and education have changed to 
encourage more girls into science, and to make opportunities available, why are 
more girls not choosing science as a career path? Summers concluded that, while 
negative socialization and discrimination still exist, these only compound (rather 
than explaining away) the basic reality of "intrinsic aptitude, and particularly of 
the variability of aptitude" (Summers 2005). Summers's remarks prompted a 
series of responses from scholars and subsequent conversations and debates that 
ultimately led to his resignation (WISELI 2009). 

The irony is that, while science has been used in the past to limit women's 
opportunities, it is more science that is needed to answer the questions. The ques- 
tion of the nature (and significance) of differences between the sexes has been 
taken up by twentieth-century psychologists, neuroscientists, geneticists, and 
evolutionary biologists, as well as by social scientists. Not surprisingly, scientists 
became interested in understanding any potential biological component to scientific 
ability at the precise moment when women began entering the scientific profes- 
sions in greater numbers — a case of social concerns guiding research questions. 
Of course, many of those same women scientists were there to challenge and guide 
the research being done with their own questions. The main areas of this research 
have been in questions of genetic, hormonal, neurological, and cognitive differ- 
ences between the sexes. 

Despite the title of this section, there have never been found any genes related 
to spatial reasoning or math skills. Interest in finding a "science gene" dates to a 
study in the 1970s in which "an X-linked recessive gene was thought to cause 
sex differences in spatial abilities . . . However, subsequent research, involving 
larger samples, failed to replicate the initial findings" (Hines 2007, 104). Still, 
other scientists continue to pursue this line of inquiry and ask how to explain the 
exceptional case of a mathematical genius, for example, who rises from a negative 
social, economic, or educational environment with what appears to be innate 



10 I American Women of Science since 1900 

talent. One recent researcher suggests that "a role for genes" should not be dis- 
missed as an explanation for scientific or mathematical ability and genius, point- 
ing out that while we regularly look to a biological or genetic basis for diseases 
or psychological issues, we become defensive over the idea of inquiring into the 
biological, genetic, or cognitive difference of sex (Haier 2007). 

While genetics, specifically, has yielded few answers to this question to date, 
endocrinologists have shown that hormones do affect brains differently, and that 
a higher presence of male hormones (androgens), beginning prenatally, correlates 
to greater spatial reasoning. Finding a firm link between sex hormones and spatial 
reasoning (or verbal or mathematical ability, or IQ) is still an active and controver- 
sial area of research. The current research shows that, at most, spatial skills can 
vary with hormone levels within an individual; that is, they can be affected by 
changes such as puberty or menstruation, although there is no clear evolutionary 
advantage for having these different abilities at different times in one's life or 
hormonal cycle. Some scientists find the evidence convincing for innate ability, 
arguing that superior male spatial-reasoning skills may not be significant enough 
to explain social phenomena, but these sex-based differences do exist across 
cultures and across time, regardless of education levels. Others point out that it is 
not the hormones specifically that explain cognitive differences, but rather the 
activities or experiences that people seek out because of hormones; for example, 
hormones may predispose a female child (but not all female children) to an inter- 
est in playing with dolls, which, in turn, may develop specific kinds of cognitive 
and emotional abilities that are then identified as innately "female." In the end, 
then, education and environment remain the most important factors, as brains are 
changed by training and experience (Ceci and Williams 2007). 

Thus, hormonal and neurological aspects overlap in explaining more broadly 
observed sex-based differences. Neuroscience has stepped in with new technolo- 
gies, such as brain imaging, to track activity in different regions of the brain and 
to track differences between men's and women's brains. Researchers have found 
that men tend to be more object-oriented and women more language-oriented, 
but while men and women might use different parts of their brains to problem 
solve, they are capable of arriving at the same conclusions. Most researchers admit 
that it is difficult to separate specific skill sets (based on test results or problem- 
solving techniques) from education and socialization. For example, if differences 
between boys' and girls' math test scores do not appear until high school, are boys' 
higher scores explained by innate ability at this higher level, or by compounded 
negative messages girls have received about their math ability? One study was con- 
ducted on men and women who received the same math scores on the SAT and 
found that their brains did, indeed, function differently while taking the test, even 
though the scores were the same. The researchers also conducted MRIs on the 



Issues | I I 

students to determine whether there was a sex-dependent correlation between IQ 
and brain structure. But even when IQ scores were the same for men and women, 
their brains were still different (Haier 2007, 115; Ceci and Williams 2007). 

The question, then, remains as to what difference, if any, sex makes, and what 
the significance of that difference is. Other scientists have pointed out that if we 
are interested in determining innate mathematical ability, it would make more 
sense to break down the specific skill sets involved and assess children when they 
are younger, since by the time students take the SAT, they are already a self- 
selected group of college-bound, higher-level students. Some feminist education 
researchers have pointed out other ways in which test questions and methods favor 
male students, and ask whether performance on college-entrance exams even has a 
direct correlation to future success (or failure) in science, technology, and math 
careers. Research into sex-based brain differences has not been in vain, how- 
ever. While they may not yet explain science and math ability, such findings 
may provide insight into sex-based differences in diseases such as Alzheimer's, 
schizophrenia, or depression (Cahill 2006). 

The work of psychologists and social scientists not only adds to but overlaps 
with biological and neurochemical studies of the brain. Some of the latest research 
looks at the effect of playing video games, computers, and with Legos and other 
building toys on boys' spatial reasoning and brain development. But this research 
brings us back to the question of whether boys play those games because o/an 
innate ability, or whether the games create the skills. We must also ask whether 
and how interest in such activities is socially encouraged in boys or, conversely, 
discouraged in girls. One study found that parents are more likely to set up com- 
puters in their sons' rooms, but whether that is because boys are more interested 
in computers or because parents expect sons to be more interested in computers 
is still up for debate. Psychologists look at behavior differences between boys 
and girls and ask which skills can be taught or developed regardless of sex. 

Feminist psychologists have argued that many theories presented to explain sex- 
based differences are in fact framed to fit with our social beliefs about gender, and 
that those theories or questions often become circulated as "facts" without critical 
analysis. For example, sex difference fits into evolutionary psychology (or sociobiol- 
ogy) explanations for why men might need better spatial skills for activities such as 
hunting, building, or navigating large distances. But there is no acknowledgement 
that the same or a similar skill set was needed by women to gather, weave, or make 
weapons (Newcombe 2007). While the questions of genetic, neurological, and cog- 
nitive explanations for human behavior are of fascinating interest to researchers 
and to the general public, many scientists still maintain that most differences, even 
in research on the youngest babies (such as work done by Harvard psychologist 
Elizabeth Spelke), point to social factors rather than biology (APA Online 2006). 



12 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Last, a limited focus on a particular skill set (such as spatial skills or abstract 
reasoning) as the most important indicator of scientific or mathematical interest or 
ability precludes inquiry into not only the social and institutional barriers to women 
in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers, but also to the impor- 
tance of other skills necessary for career success. Surely imagination, creative prob- 
lem solving, written and oral communication skills, persistence and focus, and a 
range of interpersonal skills needed for working collaboratively on research and 
mentoring are all just as important factors for success in scientific research and 
teaching careers, and may be possessed by or nurtured in individuals of either sex. 

References and Further Readings 

APA Online. 2006. "Think Again: Men and Women Share Cognitive Skills." Psychology 
Matters. American Psychological Association. (18 January 2006). http://www.apa.org/ 
research/action/share. aspx. 

Cahill, Larry. 2006. "Why Sex Matters for Neuroscience." Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 
7: 477 484 (June 2006). http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v7/n6/full/nrnl909.html. 

Ceci, Stephen J. and Wendy M. Williams, eds. 2007. Why Aren't More Women in 
Science?: Top Researchers Debate the Evidence. Washington, D.C.: American Psycho- 
logical Association. 

Chodorow, Nancy. 1999. The Reproduction of Mothering. 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of 
California Press. 

Eliot, Lise. 2009. Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome 
Gaps And What We Can Do about It. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 

Gilligan, Carol. 1993. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Develop- 
ment. 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 

Haier, Richard J. 2007. "Brains, Bias, and Biology: Follow the Data." In Why Aren't 
More Women in Science?: Top Researchers Debate the Evidence, edited by Stephen J. 
Ceci and Wendy M. Williams, 113 119. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological 
Association. 

Hines, Melissa. 2005. Brain Gender. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Hines, Melissa. 2007. "Do Sex Differences in Cognition Cause the Shortage of Women in 
Science?" In Why Aren't More Women in Science?: Top Researchers Debate the Evi- 
dence, edited by Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams, 101 112. Washington, 
D.C.: American Psychological Association. 

Newcombe, Nora S. 2007. "Taking Science Seriously: Straight Thinking about Spatial Sex 
Differences." In Why Aren't More Women in Science?: Top Researchers Debate the 
Evidence, edited by Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams, 69 77. Washington, 
D.C.: American Psychological Association. 

Schiebinger, Londa. 1993. The Mind Has No Sex?: Women in the Origins of Modern 
Science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 



Issues | 1 3 

Summers, Lawrence. 2005. "Remarks at NBER Conference on Diversifying the Science & 
Engineering Workforce." Harvard University. Office of the President. (14 January 
2005). http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/summers 2005/nber.php. 

Women in Science & Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI). 2009. "Lawrence 
Summers on Women in Science," University of Wisconsin-Madison. http://wiseli 
.engr.wisc.edu/archives/summers.php. 



The Impact of Feminism on Scientific Research 

Not only has feminism challenged the idea of innate differences between the sexes 
when it comes to technical abilities or interest in math or science, but the steady 
rise of the numbers of women in scientific professions over the course of the last 
century has introduced new questions and new research agendas in many fields 
as well. Different scientific fields have responded to and been affected by the 
presence of more women scientists, and by the challenges of feminism as a social 
and political movement over the course of the twentieth century. While 
academic feminism has had an obvious impact on the social sciences, such as 
psychology and sociology, the physical or "hard" sciences especially have been 
seen as gender-neutral realms of knowledge and inquiry. On the contrary, the 
medical and life sciences have been at the forefront of establishing new findings 
about the nature of sex and gender. The question of the impact of women and of 
feminism on science is twofold, then: First, what has been the impact of including 
women (and gender) as subjects of science? Second, what has been the impact of 
women as scientists and of feminism on research? Is there a female, or a feminist, 
approach to science? 

The first feminist intervention into science was to reject the exclusion of women 
from scientific professions and from participation in the scientific pursuit as 
researchers and teachers. Early women scientists and reformers pointed out wom- 
en's limited access to education, institutional support, and jobs, and sought to rem- 
edy the situation. Once women entered into the scientific professions, feminist 
scientists began to question the sexism inherent in the research itself. What they 
discovered is that science itself has been used to keep women out, to limit their 
opportunities, and to silence their voices. The greater representation of women in 
the sciences is a worthy goal, feminists argue, not only as a political commit- 
ment to equality, but because women change the very questions asked by science 
and therefore have an impact on the creation of scientific knowledge. 

Historian of science Londa Schiebinger calls "femininity" and science "the 
historical clash of . . . two cultures," which was epitomized in the Western European 
and American traditions with the late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century 



14 | American Women of Science since 1900 

split between the private realm of the family and the public world of work. The 
scientific revolution of the Enlightenment paved the way for the professionalization 
of science and the exclusion of women from higher education and the professions for 
another century. Besides institutional barriers, women have long faced social pres- 
sures and expectations as to which employments are suitable for women; histori- 
cally, science has not been one of those professions. From the earliest scientific 
inquiries to the scientific revolution of the mid-eighteenth century and beyond, 
"men of science held that creative work in the sciences lay beyond the natural 
capacities of women!' One nineteenth-century practitioner defined science as "anti- 
feminine," and the scientist as one whose "mind is directed to facts and abstract 
theories, and not to persons or human interests . . . they have little sympathy with 
female ways of thought" (Schiebinger 1999, 70-71). In the late nineteenth century 
(not coincidentally, as women began to gain access to professional and graduate 
schools), doctors began to warn of the negative effects of rigorous study for women, 
particularly when women were menstruating or pregnant. Women's bodies and minds 
were seen as unsuitable to the scientific pursuit of knowledge; biology was destiny. 

Of course, race and racism have also factored into scientific understandings 
of bodies and minds. Whereas white women in the eighteenth and nineteenth 
centuries were portrayed as physically fragile and mentally unstable, African 
Americans (male and female) were seen as physically robust but intellectually 
inferior, their bodies suited for physical rather than mental labors. Well into the 
twentieth century and beyond, the very image of the scientist is of one possessing 
a superior mind that in some ways transcends the body — the mad scientist, solitary 
in his lab, absentminded and detached from social and familial relationships. It has 
been a long struggle for nonwhites and for women of any race to transcend the 
belief that they are simply too tied to the needs of their bodies (and their families) 
to engage in the focused, dedicated work of science. Women scientists themselves, 
however, have always questioned the professional culture of science, from the 
view of the scientist himself as a male figure of intellect and authority, to career 
paths and tenure clocks that ignore family life, to a professional and institutional 
culture that is organized around the assumptions of male employees. 

The goal of feminist science has been not only to expand the numbers of women 
in specific fields, but to reveal how science itself operates according to certain 
gendered assumptions. Londa Schiebinger describes the feminist task of the late 
twentieth and now twenty-first centuries as a shift away from pointing out the flaws 
and limitations of science, "toward the more positive task of asking what useful 
changes feminism has brought to science" (Schiebinger 1999, 1). There is no one 
single way of doing "feminist science," just as there is no single definition of 
feminism or feminist goals. Not all feminists are women (many male scientists are 
concerned with questions of gender, power, and knowledge as well), and not all 



Issues | 1 5 

women are feminists; therefore, not all women scientists bring a feminist perspective 
to their work. Feminists may work in all scientific fields and may be interested in 
different questions. They may (or may not) be particularly interested in how gender 
functions in the scientific pursuit of knowledge, but many bring questions of sex and 
gender to their specific fields or disciplines by including women as subjects of study 
(in medical trials or as interview subjects, for example), including more subjective or 
qualitative methods in their approach (in the social sciences or through interdiscipli- 
narity), or questioning the bias of gendered language to describe certain scientific 
processes (whether in animals, plants, or inanimate objects). 

Women scientists and engineers have revised the direction and methods of 
scientific inquiry, often exposing the biases or challenging the very foundations 
of scientific knowledge in fields from evolutionary biology to medicine, from 
anthropology to zoology. Some fields have expanded to include specifically wom- 
en's concerns, for example, research related to women's health and medical treat- 
ment. While president of the American Heart Association, Bernadine Healy 
emphasized that heart disease was a leading cause of death in women as well as 
men; when she was director of the National Institutes of Health, she brought about 
reforms in the clinical testing of drugs for women and children. Other researchers 
have focused on women's nutrition, maternal health, and breast cancer. Women 




Cardiologist Bernadine Healy has been head of the National Institutes of Health, the American 
Heart Association, and the American Red Cross. (AP/Wide World Photos) 



16 | American Women of Science since 1900 

anthropologists, such as Margaret Mead, focused for the first time on women's 
social and sexual roles, and others looked at the cross-cultural experiences of 
childbirth and mothering, pointing out that leaving women out of such research 
skewed our understanding of social and economic life. A similar revolution 
took place in the study of animals, such as in the work of primatologist Jeanne 
Altmann. The work of primatologists and of evolutionary biologists has pointed 
out the importance of looking at the intersection of biology and culture to under- 
stand gender and sex-specific roles and behaviors. 

Feminist theory makes the radical claim that science it not always objective, but is 
often influenced by social beliefs and goals. Feminist scientists have sought to create 
new knowledge that complicates our view of humanity and nature, and begins with a 
critique of traditional research methods and questions that create results that exclude, 
misrepresent, or disadvantage women. In the name of a pure "masculine" objectivity, 
feminists argue, science as a discipline has rejected "feminine" or subjective ways of 
knowing. This mode of inquiry represents women and the feminine as inferior, if not 
invisible, and obscures the gendered politics of knowledge. In other words, the 
science, the technology, and the results may all disadvantage women by reinforcing 
social power relations. Even the language of science, down to the cellular level, is 
often gendered in such a way that female biological processes are characterized as 
passive and male as active (Martin 2001; Angier 2000). In a different field, psychol- 
ogists long made assumptions that a lack of interest in mothering, or an interest in 
homosexual activity, to use another example, was "abnormal" for women. As early 
as 1968, feminist scholar Naomi Weisstein identified the language and bias of 
psychological diagnoses and urged psychologists to treat women as individuals 
rather than as a group expected to adhere to widespread social beliefs about gender 
(Weisstein 1968). These were among the early feminist interventions into the very 
questions, foundations, and language of scientific inquiry. Feminist scientists seek 
to advance knowledge for its own sake, but their work is grounded in the theoretical 
frameworks of feminist philosophy and the history of science, which acknowledge 
that science has historically been used, and may still be used today, to justify social 
and political beliefs and goals. 

Feminist critique has also brought new questions regarding scientific ethics into 
the debate. The core of the feminist approach is to point out that science is situated 
in, not separate from, a specific social-historical-political context. Therefore, 
science involves not only objective data but subjective interpretations, which in 
turn involve questions of morality or ethics. Early scientific pursuits saw nature 
(including the human body) as passive and something to be controlled by humans, 
a social value or belief that still guides some scientific research. How we define the 
essence of human nature or bodies is a value judgment, influenced by, for example, 
religious or political views; this is why politics and religion are so involved in a 



Issues | 1 7 

variety of scientific debates in modern America, such as cloning, abortion, stem 
cell research, or DNA testing. In the natural and physical sciences, such as the 
fields of ecology, environmental science, climate change, animal sciences, and 
evolution, politics and religion play a large part in influencing the interests, the 
questions, the funding, and the outcome of scientific research. 

Feminism has also had a voice in questions of medical ethics, both in research 
and in healthcare. Medical ethics involves questions of equal access, patient's 
rights, and the doctor's pledge to "do no harm." Although these principles apply 
to a broad range of healthcare issues that affect women, feminists have focused 
primarily on reproductive issues as healthcare and social policy issues. From con- 
traception, abortion, and sterilization, to infertility, pregnancy, surrogacy, and 
childbirth practices, to menopause and hormone treatments, feminism has brought 
women's health issues to the forefront and pointed out that science and medicine 
are not value-neutral in the development of new technologies and practices. For 
example, why has modern science not yet developed an oral contraceptive for 
men? Or, why are they so many Caesarean sections in the United States compared 
to other developed nations, and why do many health-insurance plans refuse to 
cover alternatives such as home births? The issues are numerous, and the debates 
and implications complex, but feminists emphasize how social and political views, 
biases, and beliefs influence both the research and practice of women's health. 

Feminists are among those who question whether the goal of science is knowl- 
edge for its own sake, or whether manipulation of nature, or specific religious or 
political goals, are factors as well. Feminists must also be aware, however, of their 
own political purposes in these debates. While feminists have been accused of 
bringing politics into science, feminist scientists and scholars point out that sexism 
is not an objective scientific method. Science is rarely value-neutral (for example, 
scientific research agendas are often set by financial, political, or military goals), 
and is never objective if gender or racial bias informs the very role of the scientist 
and the questions asked. As an alternative, more subjective, epistemology, femi- 
nism acknowledges that all individual scientists bring background assumptions, 
biases, and specific experiences, goals, and priorities to their work, even uncon- 
sciously. Far from politicizing science with a new set of assumptions and agendas 
(as some critics charge), feminism only demands that scientific research live up to 
its own claims of objectivity, free from bias and political influence, supported by 
evidence, and in the name of knowledge for its own sake. 

References and Further Readings 

Angier, Natalie. 2000. Woman: An Intimate Geography. New York: Houghton Mifflin. 

Creager, Lunbeck and Londa Schiebinger, eds. 2002. Feminism in Twentieth-Century 
Science, Technology, and Medicine. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 



18 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Harding, Sandra. 1986. The Science Question in Feminism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University 
Press. 

Harding, Sandra. 1991. Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women's 
Lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 

Harding, Sandra and Jean O'Barr, eds. 1987. Sex and Scientific Inquiry. Chicago: Univer- 
sity of Chicago Press. 

Keller, Evelyn Fox and Helen Longino, eds. 1996. Feminism and Science. New York: 
Oxford University Press. 

Lacey, Hugh. 2005. Is Science Value Free? 2nd ed. New York: Routledge. 

Lederman, Muriel and Ingrid Bartsch, eds. 2001. The Gender and Science Reader. New 
York: Routledge. 

Martin, Emily. 2001. The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction. 
Boston, MA: Beacon Press. 

Pinnick, Cassandra, Noretta Koertge, and Robert Almeder, eds. 2003. Scrutinizing Feminist 
Epistemology: An Examination of Gender in Science. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers 
University Press. 

Schiebinger, Londa. 1993. The Mind Has No Sex?: Women in the Origins of Modern 
Science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 

Schiebinger, Londa. 1999. Has Feminism Changed Science? Cambridge, MA: Harvard 
University Press. 

Tuana, Nancy, ed. 1989. Feminism & Science. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

Weisstein, Naomi. 1968. "Psychology Constructs the Female." Reprinted by Chicago 
Women's Liberation Union (CWLU) Herstory Website Archive, http://www.uic.edu/ 
orgs/cwluherstory/CWLU Archive/psych. html. 



Science and Technology Education for Girls 

One reason for the interest in the question of sex-based difference in science and 
math test scores is that, in nearly every other educational outcome, girls outperform 
boys. Girls do better on reading and writing assessments, get better classroom 
grades, and are more likely to graduate from high school, and, since the early 
1980s, women receive more undergraduate college degrees than men. Undoubtedly, 
some of this is the result of the feminist movement of the 1970s and 1980s taking up 
the educational inequality of girls as a social and political issue. Feminists began to 
look to the classroom (among other places) and found evidence of gender discrimi- 
nation, and the resulting low self-esteem and missed opportunities, against the 
youngest female members of society, finding not only that boys dominated class- 
room discussions and that teachers had lower expectations for girls' performance, 



Issues | 19 

but that even the materials taught — from the literature chosen to history textbooks — 
focused on males and their interests, or were often absent of females. The raising of 
that consciousness led to social programs and policy changes to address equality in 
the classroom and the career paths of young women. 

The whole idea of science education is a twentieth-century development. 
Attempts to standardize science curricula at the high school level began in the 
1890s, with recommendations for a breadth of knowledge to include physics, 
astronomy, chemistry, and natural history. Before the 1920s, however, science edu- 
cation for young children focused primarily on nature study, and was certainly not 
formal or systematic. Domestic science, or home economics, became a standard 
part of the curriculum for girls beginning in the first half of the twentieth century, 
as the goal of early education was to prepare girls for future roles as wives and 
mothers, whereas boys were tracked into vocational or technical courses (accord- 
ing to class expectations as well). But the modern science curriculum for elemen- 
tary and secondary students is a product of the Cold War, beginning in the 1950s, 
when the government investment in science and technology education meant that 
boys and girls would be offered the same science curriculum through the public 
schools. To fit with new national military and industrial commitments, the "hard" 
sciences of physics and chemistry replaced an earlier emphasis on nature study, 
even at the elementary level; the "science experiment" and "science fair" became 
ubiquitous features of modern American science education (Tolley 2003). 

Beginning in the 1970s, the U.S. Congress passed a series of acts to ensure edu- 
cational equity in everything from sports opportunities to vocational training to 
funding for science and math education. While girls' access to educational oppor- 
tunities expanded throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and social programs such as 
the Ms. Foundation's "Take Our Daughters to Work Day" (established in 1993) 
showed an effort to expose girls to a broader range of career possibilities, in 
1992 the American Association of University Women (AAUW) published its 
groundbreaking report, How Schools Shortchange Girls, exposing the sometimes 
blatant but often subtle ways in which schools and teachers disadvantage girls in 
the classroom and ultimately discourage them from "nontraditional" pursuits, 
including math and science (AAUW 1992; see also AAUW 2000 and AAUW 
2004). This attention resulted in a vast new literature on gender and education 
and, by the late 1990s, a pendulum swing to scholars, experts, and parents arguing 
that boys are now shortchanged when their needs and learning styles are ignored in 
the new girl-friendly school environment (Tyre 2008). These studies argue that 
neglecting the particular physical and emotional needs of boys in the classroom 
has led to a generation of boys diagnosed with (and prescribed medication for) 
attention deficit disorder, an epidemic of violence in the schools, and lower gradu- 
ation rates of and college attendance. 



20 | American Women of Science since 1900 

If girls have greater advantages in the elementary and high school classroom, 
and perform well in science and math courses in particular, the question is not only 
one of lower SAT scores, but of fewer girls continuing on in science career paths. 
What other factors explain their continued underrepresentation in math and 
science careers? There are two main questions to address. First, are teachers and 
parents still treating girls differently, especially in regard to science and math 
ability? Second, what do girls think about women and science? 

From elementary through high school, some fear that girls are getting a different 
education, both quantitatively and qualitatively, than boys. Much research has been 
conducted over the past 20 to 30 years on classroom dynamics, and on the way 
teachers (and parents) treat girls differently and track them according to gender 
stereotypes, from boys receiving more attention (positive and negative) in the class- 
room, to teachers expecting less from girls, to methodologies (tests, etc.) that favor 
the ways boys learn over the ways girls learn, to the lack of female role models in 
the classroom and in textbooks. Numerous studies have shown that deep-rooted 
ideas about gender continue to filter into teacher interactions with girls. One study 
conducted over the course of 25 years "found that girls were eight times less likely 
to call out comments, but when they did were reminded to raise their hands. In con- 
trast, teachers responded to the typically rowdier and more assertive behavior of 
boys. Thus highly intelligent young girls often give up their own assertiveness and 
risk-taking behavior fulfilling social virtues of selflessness and cooperation" 
(Etzkowitz, Kemelgor, and Uzzi 2000, 39). 

When it comes to the role of education and educational policy, the debate over 
sex-based differences in ability is less important than the belief that everyone 
deserves equal access and equal education, and the belief that any subject can be 
taught. Even if there are no significant biological or innate ability differences 
between how the sexes learn, are there "taste differences" that account for fewer 
women developing an interest in science in the first place? (This point was made 
by Harvard president Lawrence Summers in his controversial 2005 remarks explain- 
ing why there are fewer women in high-level science positions.) The observation has 
been made by some that women, in general, are more interested in people and in rela- 
tionships than in solitary lab work, for example. Regardless of whether this is due to 
biology or to social conditioning (or whether it is even true for all women), one must 
ask whether this is an accurate understanding of what scientists do. It may, in fact, 
explain the higher numbers of women in "helping" professions such as medicine 
(and certain subspecialties within medicine), veterinary medicine, or psychology, 
but it does not explain the variety of skills and activities that engage scientists across 
disciplines in relation both to people (the solitary lab scientist is something of a myth, 
as researchers must coordinate teams of students and colleagues) and to the subjects 



Issues | 21 

of their research (e.g., the cancer researcher engaged in lab work, or the computer 
scientist writing educational software, are still involved in a quest to "help" people). 

One thing is certain: The continued perception at least (if not evidence) that 
science, technology, engineering, and math are "male" fields or that boys have more 
natural aptitude in these areas has an influence on whether girls choose these 
subjects of study or move on to pursue careers, and on how women scientists 
are ultimately treated in the lab, the field, and in academia. In other words, the 
debate itself influences how girls and young women perceive themselves, as well 
as how others perceive them, regardless of their educations and achievements. 
Researchers at the University of British Columbia examined the issue of "stereotype 
threat," or the effect of perceived truths about members of a group, in relation to 
women's science and math achievement. Their studies found that "women who read 
of genetic causes of sex differences performed worse on math tests than those who 
read of experiential causes" (Dar-Nimrod and Heine 2006). 

Female students may also fear being labeled a "smart girl." This has become such 
a concern that the National Science Foundation launched a website/program called 
SmartGirl (http://www.smartgirl.org) for girls aged 11 to 17 that, while not specific 
to science education, provides a significant amount of information on career choices, 
including an extensive list of links related to STEM careers. Another program, 
NerdGirls (http://www.nerdgirls.org), was started by a professor at Tufts University 
for her female engineering students, and the organization's mission is "to encourage 
other girls to change their world through Science, Technology, Engineering and 
Math, while embracing their feminine power." They also seek "to dispel the myths 
and stereotypes about these fields and the women who choose to enter them." Girls, 
Inc. created a nationally implemented program called Operation SMART (Science, 
Math and Relevant Technology; http://www.girlsinc.org/about/programs/operation 
-smart.html), which advises parents and teachers to "Assume girls are interested in 
math, science and technology," and support and encourage them accordingly. 

One of the most famous ongoing experiments has been the study of stereotypes 
and images in the "Draw-A-Scientist Test" (DAST). Begun in the early 1980s, the 
test has been used in recent years internationally to look at children, college stu- 
dents, and teachers, at different school levels and with student populations of 
different ethnicities, as well as the two sexes (Steinke et al. 2007). An analysis 
of DAST shows, among other things, that the older the student (from elementary 
up through middle and then high school), the more likely he or she is to portray a 
scientist as male (and white). For example, a 1999 study showed that students in 
kindergarten through second grade drew male scientists 58% of the time, 
compared to up to 75% of the time among students in sixth through eight grade 
(Hall 2007, 25). Views about scientific ability and who can be a scientist may also 
present at home. New research shows that the attitudes of parents — especially 



22 | American Women of Science since 1900 

fathers — are important indicators for determining a girl's interest and success in 
math. Fathers must encourage their daughters, show interest in their math and 
science studies, and expect girls to be good at math, as paternal confidence and 
attitudes figure significantly into a girl's view of her own abilities and potential 
(Univ. of Michigan 2007). It is, of course, not surprising that the issues and 
messages of the culture at large are magnified in the home, and that the attitudes 
of parents are some of the most influential on young girls. 

Still, increasing numbers of girls are taking higher-level math and science in 
high school. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, in 
2005, some 42% of twelfth-grade girls had taken both biology and chemistry, 
and 29% had taken biology, chemistry, and physics, slight jumps from just a few 
years earlier (Hall 2007, 20). Still, their numbers are often not high enough in indi- 
vidual classes to counter the idea of math and science as male endeavors, and girls 
who do well are seen as exceptional and different, making it hard for girls to think 
beyond high school to consider science careers. In a perpetual negative cycle, then, 
the fewer the young women who enter into science careers, the less likely students 
will be to encounter the female role models and science teachers needed to inspire 
the next generation of girls. Girls who attend all-girl high schools choose science, 
math, and engineering majors in college in higher numbers (Hall 2007, 33). If girls 
in other contexts are discouraged from or avoid difficult science classes, they sim- 
ply will not be prepared to take college-level science courses, regardless of inter- 
est or ability, another factor against deciding on a science major. In other words, 
early intervention is necessary — thus the focus on science education and organiza- 
tions for girls in the middle and high school years. 

In response to these issues and concerns, numerous programs have been estab- 
lished to encourage girls in science and technology majors and careers. These pro- 
grams target students, parents, and teachers, and are sponsored by educational 
institutions, corporations, nonprofits, and government. Efforts range from education, 
to mentoring programs, to special projects and clubs, to financial assistance in the 
form of scholarships and grants for female science majors. Education requires not 
only increasing the numbers and preparedness of girls taking advanced math and 
science courses, but also educating girls as to the range of career possibilities in 
science and technology. A National Academy of Sciences website on girls and 
science (http://www.iwaswondering.org) provides guidelines to teachers, including 
awareness about social stereotypes, types of and reasons for praise of boys and girls 
in the classroom, and countering negative perceptions about science as a career 
path for women. A wealth of literature and programs exist offering advice to teach- 
ers on how to create a gender-neutral classroom. Some important strategies for 
teachers collected from various programs include encouraging creativity and inno- 
vation, creating opportunities for meaningful collaborative work among peers and 



Issues | 23 

with adults, making an effort to represent women in the sciences (through class- 
room materials, images, classroom visitors, or field trips), and praising students 
(male and female) for their efforts and process, not just for following the rules. 

Resources for Girls, Their Parents, and Teachers 

"Discover Engineering," National Engineers Week Foundation. http://www. discover 
engineering.org. 

"Earth Science," For Kids Only, NASA, http://kids.earth.nasa.gov. 

"Engineer Girl," National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences. 
http://www.engineergirl.org. 

"Expanding Your Horizons Network: Motivating Young Women in Science + Mathematics." 
http://www.expandingyourhorizons.org. 

"Science," KidSites.com. http://www.kidsites.com/sites-edu/science.htm. 

"Science News for Kids," Society for Science & the Public. http://www.sciencenews 
forkids.org. 

"Sci4Kids," USDA Agricultural Research Service, http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids. 

"Try Engineering." http://www.tryengineering.org. 

Books for Girls and Young Women 

Goetz, Susan Gibbs. 2007. Science for Girls: Successful Classroom Strategies. Lanham, 
MD: Scarecrow Press. 

Hoyt, Beth Caldwell and Erica Ritter. 2003. The Ultimate Girls' Guide to Science: From 
Backyard Experiments to Winning the Nobel Prize. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words 
Publishing. 

Karnes, Frances A. and Kristen R. Stephens. 2002. Young Women of Achievement: A 
Resource for Girls in Science, Math, and Technology. Amherst, NJ: Prometheus Books. 

Romanek, Trudee. 2001. The Technology Book for Girls and Other Advanced Beings. 
Illus. Pat Cupples. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press. 

SciGirls Presents GEMS: A Case Study in Science Inquiry for Girls. 2008. DVD. Twin 
Cities Public Television, Inc. for WGBH/Boston. 

Skolnick, Joan, Carol Langbort, and Lucille Day. 1982. How to Encourage Girls in Math 
& Science: Strategies for Parents and Educators. Palo Alto, CA: Dale Seymour 
Publications. 

Thimmesh, Catherine. 2000. Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by 
Women. Illus. Melissa Sweet. New York: Houghton Mifflin. 

Thimmesh, Catherine. 2002. The Sky's the Limit: Stories of Discovery by Women and 
Girls. Illus. Melissa Sweet. New York: Houghton Mifflin. 

Wyatt, Valerie. 2000. The Math Book for Girls and Other Beings Who Count. Illus. Patricia 
Cupples. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press. 



24 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Wyatt, Valerie. 1993. The Science Book for Girls and Other Intelligent Beings. Illus. 
Patricia Cupples. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press. 

References and Further Readings 

AAUW. 1992. The AAUW Report: How Schools Shortchange Girls. Washington, D.C.: 
American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, http:// 
www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/hssg.pdf. 

AAUW. 2000. Tech Savvy: Educating Girls in the New ComputerAge. Washington, D.C.: 
American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, http:// 
www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/TechSavvy.pdf. 

AAUW. 2004. Under the Microscope: A Decade of Gender Equity Projects in the 
Sciences. Washington, D.C.: American Association of University Women Educational 
Foundation, http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/underthemicroscope.pdf. 

Dar-Nimrod, Ilan and Steven J. Heine. 2006. "Exposure to Scientific Theories Affects 
Women's Math Performance." Science, Vol. 314, No. 5798 (20 October 2006), 435. 

Dingel, Molly J. 2006. "Gendered Experiences in the Science Classroom." In Removing 
Barriers: Women in Academic Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, 
edited by Jill M. Bystydzienski and Sharon R. Bird, 161 176. Bloomington: Indiana 
University Press. 

Etzkowitz, Henry, Carol Kemelgor, and Brian Uzzi. 2000. Athena Unbound: The Advance- 
ment of Women in Science and Technology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University 
Press. 

Hall, Linley Erin. 2007. Who's Afraid of Marie Curie? The Challenges Facing Women in 
Science and Technology. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press. 

James, Abigail Norfleet. 2009. Teaching the Female Brain: How Girls Learn Math and 
Science. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press/SAGE. 

Steinke, Jocelyn et al. 2007. "Assessing Media Influences on Middle School Aged 
Children's Perceptions of Women in Science Using the Draw-A-Scientist Test 
(DAST)." Science Communication. 29(1): 35 64. (September 2007). http:// 
homepages.wmich.edu/~steinke/projects/assessing media/index. html. 

"STEM Equity Pipeline: Expanding Options for Women and Girls in Science, Technology, 
Engineering and Math." http://stemequitypipeline.org. 

Summers, Lawrence. 2005. "Remarks at NBER Conference on Diversifying the Science & 
Engineering Workforce." Harvard University. Office of the President. (14 January 
2005). http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/summers 2005/nber.php. 

Tolley, Kimberly. 2003. The Science Education of American Girls: A Historical Perspec- 
tive. New York: Routledge Falmer Press. 

Tyre, Peg. 2008. The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their 
Problems at School, and What Parents & Educators Must Do. New York: Random 
House. 



Issues | 25 



University of Michigan. 2007. "How Dads Influence Their Daughters' Interest In Math." 
ScienceDaily. (25 June 2007). http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/ 
070624143002.htm. 



Women and Science in College and Graduate School 

The educational issues and challenges facing girls and women in the sciences con- 
tinue beyond high school. Women's formal science education at the college level 
dates to the nineteenth century and corresponds with women's access to higher 
education in general, whether through the women's colleges or through co- 
educational institutions. Co-educational colleges in the United States originated in 
the Midwest when Oberlin College in 1837 began admitting women and African 
Americans. The land-grant institutions, which were often co-educational, were 
established by the Morrill Act of 1 862 and focused on the agricultural sciences, with 
an emphasis on chemistry, nutrition and food sciences, animal sciences, and botany 
and horticulture. The women's colleges founded in the late nineteenth century also 
became centers of scientific education for women, both undergraduate and graduate. 
Among women who went on to earn doctorates in the sciences, the majority came 
from undergraduate programs at women's colleges; the top five colleges conferring 
bachelor's degrees in science to women before 1920 were all Eastern single-sex 
institutions (Mount Holyoke, Barnard, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley) (Rossiter 
1982, 144). For doctorates, however, the University of Chicago and Columbia 
University in New York awarded the highest number of science Ph.D.s to women 
through the 1930s (Rossiter 1982, 170-171). 

Efforts to encourage more women to pursue careers in the sciences, including 
funding and mentorship programs, brought a steady increase in the number of 
women science majors after the 1970s. In 2006, women received slightly more 
than 50% of all bachelor's degrees in the sciences and engineering (NSF Table 
C-14). There is great variation by specific fields, with women earning the majority 
of degrees in psychology, social sciences, and the biological sciences, but smaller 
percentages of degrees in physical sciences and engineering. The "leaky pipeline," 
however, means that the number of women science candidates drops at critical 
junctures along the educational and career path, so that while women earn 50% 
of science bachelor's degrees only 38.4% of STEM doctorates go to women 
(NSF Table F-2). The "leak" in the pipeline between undergraduate and graduate 
school completion may be explained in part by decisions about family life made 
during a woman's late twenties and early thirties, coinciding with the years dedi- 
cated to a graduate program. A marriage, a spouse's employment options, and 
whether and when to have children all affect not only the timing of completion 



26 | American Women of Science since 1900 

of a program, but funding, grants, mentoring, and research opportunities. Consid- 
ering the significance of work/life issues to women during these years, one scholar 
has concluded that "The human price for the Ph.D. is higher for women than for 
men, and the rewards are often lower" (Etzkowitz, Kemelgor, and Uzzi 2000, 95). 

While taking into account that many capable or interested female students 
decide to apply their talents elsewhere than the sciences, and that not all under- 
graduate science majors plan to continue on for advanced degrees in science fields, 
a woman's undergraduate educational experience will also influence her decision 
whether to continue on in pursuit of a STEM doctorate and career. If women are 
discouraged in difficult courses, they may assume that they do not have enough 
ability to succeed in math and science, and may choose not to pursue science 
and math majors. A 2003 study of students in difficult pre-med chemistry and 
calculus courses at Columbia University found that whether a student has a view 
of success in STEM courses as a matter of innate ability (or a "gift") or has a belief 
that hard work and individual effort will result in success determines female uni- 
versity students' "vulnerability" to being discouraged away from science. Among 
students who believed that success in the course was determined by innate ability, 
male students earned higher grades; among students who considered intellectual 
skills to be acquired or developed, female students earned higher grades and were 
more likely to continue with the course than those who believed they possessed a 
gift (Dweck 2007, 49-50; see also Dar-Nimrod and Heine 2006). Success and 
good grades in courses like these (required courses for science and math majors) 
across the nation are a strong indicator of continued pursuit of a science major 
and continuing on to a scientific career. 

The status hierarchy of science fields thus begins in college, where fields 
deemed "easier" happen to be those with more women (biology or psychology), 
and the more "difficult" fields, which are also those presumed to require more 
math skills (such as physics, chemistry, and engineering), are dominated by men. 
Few female undergraduates will have many female faculty members for role 
models and, while some women say they do not expect to have many female fac- 
ulty when deciding to major in science, it may still have an effect on their future 
choices in the field. A 2005 study of colleges in the late 1990s found that "women 
who had a female instructor in their first course in geology or mathematics and sta- 
tistics were more likely to take additional courses in those subjects. In physics and 
biology, however, women were more likely to take additional courses if their first 
instructor was male" (Hall 2007, 118). Of course, the mere presence of female pro- 
fessors does not mean that they will be mentors or develop positive relationships 
with female students, but they are role models nonetheless. 

The classroom experiences of women in the sciences are also an important 
factor in deciding to pursue STEM majors and careers. College science classes 



Issues | 27 

are notorious as highly competitive "weeding-out" systems that, some argue, 
strike particularly hard at women. While attempting to discourage the less serious 
students may seem meritocratic (that is, with everyone having the same opportu- 
nity to succeed or fail), it may in fact serve a professional gatekeeping function 
by operating to cultivate a particular type or group of students preferred in the pro- 
fession (Etzkowitz, Kemelgor, and Uzzi 2000). Highly competitive classes reward 
individual achievement rather than collaboration; have an extremely rapid pace of 
coursework; have a pace and format of testing that rewards certain learning styles, 
assertiveness, and lack of mentoring on the part of faculty; have a lack of personal 
contact between faculty and student; and, in some cases, allow outright exclusion 
of women from study groups or other opportunities. When female students do ask 
for help or express doubts about their abilities, they may be seen by male faculty or 
fellow students as overly emotional or showing weakness, or even as sexually 
available — all of which makes it harder to get help and thus increases women's 
isolation. Feminist critics argue that these experiences in the weed-out process 
create a particularly male culture of individuals "winning" at all costs, and deny 
other modes of socialization and learning. For many female students, it is, if noth- 
ing else, contrary to the encouragement, mentoring, and collaboration they may 
have experienced in their high school science programs. 

But is this a universal experience for women in college? The women who do 
succeed in college science courses under these conditions report positive experi- 
ences that led them to further pursue science at the graduate level. Of course, 
there are variations in childhood socialization, individual interests, and personal- 
ity styles that account for the career choice and success of any particular individ- 
ual. The importance of female role models and of supportive and communicative 
mentors (whether male or female) is often cited as one of the most important 
factors in the success of women in science education, at both the undergraduate 
and graduate levels. The experience of women as science and engineering stu- 
dents in college varies, depending not only on the program and faculty, but on 
the college itself. For example, in assessing the difference between women's col- 
leges (which trained many of the early-twentieth-century female scientists) and 
technical colleges, some argue that women's colleges give female students a 
chance to do their personal and intellectual best without either explicit or subtle 
discrimination, and without feeling that they are in a minority in their field. Of 
course, this can be a protective environment that is not realistic in preparing 
women for graduate school or their later employment situations. While many 
young women may be deterred from pursuing science majors for various reasons, 
many others pursue what interests them most or, in some cases, are specifically 
challenged by the idea that they can be one of the few or exceptional women to 
enter into a field. 



28 | American Women of Science since 1900 

References and Further Readings 

Bird, Sharon R. and Jill M. Bystydzienski, eds. 2006. Removing Barriers: Women in 
Academic Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Bloomington: Indiana 
University Press. 

Dar-Nimrod, Ilan and Steven J. Heine. 2006. "Exposure to Scientific Theories Affects 
Women's Math Performance." Science, Vol. 314, No. 5798 (20 October 2006), 435. 

Dweck, Carol S. 2007. "Is Math a Gift? Beliefs That Put Females at Risk." In Why Aren 't More 
Women in Science?: Top Researchers Debate the Evidence, edited by Stephen J. Ceci and 
Wendy M. Williams, 47 55. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. 

Etzkowitz, Henry, Carol Kemelgor, and Brian Uzzi. 2000. Athena Unbound: The Advance- 
ment of Women in Science and Technology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University 
Press. 

Hall, Linley Erin. 2007. Who's Afraid of Marie Curie? The Challenges Facing Women in 
Science and Technology. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press. 

National Science Foundation. "Table C-14. Bachelor's degrees, by race/ethnicity, citizen- 
ship, sex, and field: 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science 
and Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statis- 
tics, special tabulations of U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educa- 
tion Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Completions Survey, 
2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabc-14.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-2. S&E doctoral degrees awarded to women, by 
field: 1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and 
Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, 
Survey of Earned Doctorates, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/ 
tabf-2.pdf. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1982. Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 
1940. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Seymour, Elaine and Nancy M. Hewitt. 1997. Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates 
Leave the Sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview Press/Perseus Books. 



Jobs for Women Scientists: Academia 

The academic career track in all disciplines is organized along an advancement 
"ladder" leading to and through the stages of tenure. In the sciences, once a 
Ph.D. is received, the postdoctoral fellowship or position (or "postdoc") is a criti- 
cal career step during which one gains laboratory or research experience with 
mentors in the discipline; a scientist may then be hired as an assistant professor 
(an untenured position), then, once tenure is received, advance to associate profes- 
sor, and then full professor (or simply "professor"), which is the highest academic 



Issues | 29 




teaching rank. Science faculty may also 
be appointed to high-level administra- 
tive positions as department chairs, pro- 
vosts, or deans of programs within a 
university, or campus- wide administra- 
tors, including university and college 
presidents. Instructors or adjunct faculty 
are often temporary, affiliated, or part- 
time appointments, with no promise of 
tenure. 

Although many women scientists 
work throughout government and pri- 
vate industry, much emphasis and analy- 
sis has focused on the research-intensive 
academic career track as the assumed 
path for women in the sciences. Perhaps 
because scientists in academia are more 
organized according to separate disci- 
plines — and because gender issues are 
more often discussed in a university 
setting — there have been numerous 

studies and statistical tracking of the status of women scientists in academia. By 
2006, however, only about 19% of women scientists and engineers were employed in 
universities or four-year colleges, and another 6% worked in other educational institu- 
tions, teaching in secondary schools or two-year colleges that do not emphasize (or 
allow time for) research and publication; this is compared to almost 50% of women 
scientists and engineers employed in business and industry (NSF Table H-19). 

Before 1940, the overwhelming majority (as many as three-quarters) of profes- 
sionally trained women scientists worked in colleges or universities, many in the 
women's colleges or in non-tenure-track lecturing and research or laboratory 
assistant positions (Rossiter 1982, 160). After World War II, access to higher 
education and professional employment opportunities became more restrictive 
for women, so that by 1958, women made up only 10% of scientists employed in 
educational institutions (Rossiter 1995, 107). It was not until after the 1970s that 
women's numbers in academia began to rise again, but by then, technological 
advances in computers, aerospace, medicine and pharmaceuticals, and other fields 
led to the expansion of opportunities in government and private industry, so that 
academic science was not the only option. 

In the nineteenth century, both men and women might begin teaching without 
acquiring or before completing their own advanced academic degrees; others 



Astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin 
discovered that stars, including the Sun, are 
composed mainly of hydrogen. (Bettmann/ 
Corbis) 



30 | American Women of Science since 1900 

found permanent positions as research or lab assistants. The first female college 
professors were employed at women's colleges, or at larger co-educational institu- 
tions teaching "women's" subjects, assigned to the home economics department 
rather than the biology or chemistry departments, for example. Heavy teaching 
loads and administrative responsibilities prevented many women from achieving 
the research and publication records necessary for tenure or wider professional 
recognition; others found that tenure-track promotions eluded them regardless of 
their teaching and research accomplishments. Chemist Ellen Swallow Richards 
was the first female faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
(MIT) in the 1870s and was internationally recognized for her work; still, she 
remained at the untenured level of "instructor" for her entire 30-year career. There 
were even cases of women's names being left off faculty rosters in order to avoid 
controversy with boards of trustees or alumni who might object to female faculty 
in certain subjects, although in the early 1900s most colleges and universities 
began to adopt more objective hiring and tenure guidelines that limited the influ- 
ence of donors or alumni. Astronomer Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin worked at the 
Harvard Observatory in the 1910s and 1920s, where she had no official title and 
her lectures were not listed in the catalogue. She later described how funding for 
her position at the observatory was identified as an "equipment" expense and 
how she was not accepted or even acknowledged in the Harvard community at 
large (Rossiter 1982, 211). 

In 1921, a special committee of the American Association of University Profes- 
sors conducted one of the earliest surveys on the status of women in academia. The 
committee included several prominent women scientists at the time, including 
Bryn Mawr geologist Florence Bascom, and found that of 100 co-educational 
schools surveyed, 27 had no women faculty at all, in any field (not just science) 
and at any level. Of those with women on the faculty, women made up 23.5% of 
instructors, but only 4% of full professors (Rossiter 1982, 163). Of the top six 
colleges employing women scientists, the largest number were, not surprisingly, 
concentrated at the women's colleges: Wellesley, Vassar, and Mount Holyoke 
had the highest numbers of female science faculty (Rossiter 1982, 182). In 1938, 
only three women were department chairs or deans of science schools or depart- 
ments, and all three of these were in departments of nutrition or home economics: 
Lydia Roberts at the University of Chicago, Flora Rose at Cornell University, 
and Abby Marlatt at the University of Wisconsin (Rossiter 1982, 182). 

After a post-World War II retrenchment in academic opportunities for profes- 
sional women, it was not until the civil rights legislation of the 1960s and 
then the women's movement of the 1970s that women regained access to higher 
education and employment, especially in "nontraditional" fields, including STEM 
fields. The first problem for women in academic employment is getting hired, 



Issues | 3 1 



Title IX and Women's Education 

The civil rights legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in the early 1960s is rec- 
ognized for ushering in a new era of racial equality, but the legislation also had 
an enormous impact on women's educational and employment opportunities. 
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was followed by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 
which "prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, 
or national origin," and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 
(EEOC) as a federal-level agency to address such issues. Title IX (part of the later 
1972 Education Amendments), recognizing the need to open pathways to 
employment, went further in forbidding discrimination in educational institutions. 
The main passage of the law reads, "No person in the United States shall, on 
the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or 
be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving 
Federal financial assistance." Although a simple statement, the effect of Title IX 
had a wider impact, not only on educational admissions and hiring but also on 
funding for women's athletics, ushering in a new era of training opportunities for 
professional female athletes. In 2002, Title IX was renamed the Patsy Mink Equal 
Opportunity in Education Act, after the late Congresswoman from Hawaii who 
authored the Act. 



especially in periods or cycles when there are fewer jobs than applicants. In 2003, 
for example, there were 1,200 new physics Ph.D.s, but only 679 new faculty posi- 
tions at all colleges combined, including part-time and community colleges, which 
are nonresearch positions (Hall 2007, 160). Of course, many of these new physics 
graduates would undoubtedly go into industry or government positions, but in 
other fields or disciplines, there may be even fewer opportunities outside of aca- 
demia. Significant advances have been made since the 1970s in eliminating (or 
minimizing) gender discrimination in hiring, and new studies show that new 
female Ph.D.s on the job market, although underrepresented in some fields, face 
a level playing field when applying for jobs ("Women Faring Well" 2009). 

While women are not necessarily disadvantaged in the tenure-track hiring pro- 
cess, there is still what is referred to as a "leaky pipeline," with fewer women 
present the higher up the advancement ladder one goes, and their numbers drasti- 
cally reduced in some fields on the way from graduate student to assistant profes- 
sor to tenure. Despite decades of women's advancement in individual disciplines, 
at the highest academic levels (full professors and department heads) there are still 
few women compared to the numbers of female Ph.D. recipients and junior faculty 
members. A 2000 report found that a woman chaired only 4.2% of the more than 
500 STEM departments surveyed (Hall 2007, 177). As tenure-track or full 



32 | American Women of Science since 1900 

professor status is required for consideration as chairs, deans, and provosts, not to 
mention university presidents, there are ultimately fewer women from which to 
choose for these positions. 

Again, the problem of the "leaky pipeline" is institutional rather than individual, 
as several women scientists have served as university presidents, and in the early 
twenty-first century, several of the most prestigious universities named scientists as 
their first female presidents: Chemical engineer Alice P. Gast (Lehigh), neurobiolo- 
gist Susan Hockfield (MIT), physicist Shirley Ann Jackson (Rensselaer Polytech- 
nic), molecular biologist Shirley Tilghman (Princeton University), and astronomer 
France Cordova (Purdue University) all currently head these universities. The 
achievements of these (and many other) high-profile women scientists, however, 
may obscure the larger problem of the low representation of women in STEM fields; 
ironically, some of the lowest representation among faculty overall is in the very 
disciplines in which these individual women were trained (physics and astronomy, 
for example). 

The academic tenure system also presents a unique work/life balance problem. 
It would seem that academia might be more flexible than other types of employ- 
ment, as many people assume that professors' primary role is teaching courses 
for only a few hours per week, with summers off. In the sciences, however, the 
demands of laboratory work and management can require seven-day work weeks, 
and the pressure and expectations of the tenure clock begin with the first postdoc- 
toral position. For women who want to have and raise children, the time required 
in the early years of one's career working toward tenure (which requires several 
years of postdoctoral research, building relationships with mentors, receiving 
accolades for teaching, and publishing) coincides with the female biological clock 
of the twenties and early thirties. For women who do marry or have children 
during this process, family considerations impact decisions not only about the ten- 
ure clock but about geographical mobility and partner hires. Academic couples 
must consider whether one partner will be able to accept a prestigious appointment 
if the other cannot easily relocate or find a comparable position. Academic depart- 
ments may consider male and female applicants on their individual merits, but 
questions of family obligations and spousal or partner hires may be difficult nego- 
tiations if both partners are academics or work in the same field. Family consider- 
ations may impact women's careers, so they advance more slowly, participate in 
fewer well-funded projects, take longer to tenure or accept less prestigious posi- 
tions, and ultimately earn less income over the long term. 

A final problem for women scientists in academia is discrimination on the job 
itself. One high-profile study of gender equity revealed that, as of 1996, there were 
only 22 female professors at MIT, compared to 252 male faculty. The study also 
revealed disparities between male and female faculty members in terms of salary, 



Issues | 33 

lab funding, support, and even research space (Rosser 2004). This was a study 
done by and within just one university, a major science and technology institution, 
and so it raised questions about the status of women faculty at other colleges and 
universities. Unlike in the humanities, much funding for scientific research comes 
from outside the university system, from government or private sources, but here, 
too, there has been shown a disadvantage for projects led by women. A 2005 study 
of grant applications and awards from the major federal sources of research 
funding — the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation 
(NSF), and the USDA — found that women overall were less likely to receive fund- 
ing for their projects and were less likely to reapply for the same grants; the report 
authors suggested that these were only preliminary findings and called for better 
tracking by the funding agencies themselves (Hosek et al. 2005). 

In 2005, Harvard University president Lawrence Summers proposed several 
possible reasons, both biological and social, to explain the lack of women in 
high-level academic science positions (Summers 2005). In response to the contro- 
versy created by Summers's remarks, Harvard established a Task Force on Women 
Faculty and Women in Science and Engineering with the goal of analyzing the 
"pipeline" problem in the academic career path, and making recommendations at 
the institutional level in regard to "recruitment, support, and advancement of 
outstanding women faculty in the University." Some scholars have questioned 
affirmative action for women, which is most often clearly practiced in academia, 
arguing that the underrepresentation of women does not mean that there should 
be specific efforts to increase their representation, potentially to the disadvantage 
of qualified male candidates (Kimura 2007, 44). Others questioned the attacks 
made on Summers directly (who suggested that there may be innate as well as 
social reasons explaining women's lack of interest in or preparation for STEM 
careers), arguing that his remarks should serve merely to begin a system-wide 
conversation regarding the goals of university science departments, but that more 
focus should be on early intervention and education, such as encouraging young 
women to enroll in more difficult science courses in high school and college. 

Finally, the academic work environment and women's individual career success 
in the sciences is impacted by the presence of female faculty as mentors and advi- 
sors to younger women in college and graduate school. Some faculty take on this 
special role with pride, but it also creates certain social pressures, as women 
faculty members may be expected to make extra time for mentoring students in a 
way that male professors are not or do not (Etzkowitz, Kemelgor, and Uzzi 
2000, 149). This creates a paradox, as many female faculty members report that 
they had critical support from their own mentors, and so they feel they owe some- 
thing to the next generation, especially in encouraging female students in science 
careers. But they must prioritize their own careers and productivity in order to 



34 | American Women of Science since 1900 

compete and move up the ladder. If they sacrifice their own advancement schedule, 
there will continue to be fewer women as role models at the highest levels. 
Female faculty members also need time to seek out support from other women in 
science, finding peers beyond their own departments and institutions, where they 
are likely to be in a minority within any given field. Professional scientific organiza- 
tions, and women's committees within those organizations, can be essential 
resources for career, legal, and discipline-specific assistance and guidance. 

While tenured academic positions provide the stability and institutional frame- 
work and resources necessary for conducting research (including laboratory space, 
graduate students, and postdocs), faced with contingent, part-time, or nonresearch 
positions, struggles with funding and promotion, or just general isolation, some 
women scientists plan to pursue academic jobs, but decide to leave and practice 
science elsewhere. Others discover early on that they are not particularly inter- 
ested in academia, finding more stability and (simultaneously) more flexibility, 
and often more lucrative positions, in nonacademic employment. As the twenty- 
first century begins, more women faculty are needed at every level to serve as role 
models for the next generation of female scientists. 

References and Further Reading 

AAUW. 2004. Tenure Denied: Cases of Sex Discrimination in Academia. Washington, 
D.C.: American Association of University Women Educational Foundation and AAUW 
Legal Advocacy Fund. http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/TenureDenied.pdf. 

Bystydzienski, Jill M. and Sharon R. Bird, eds. 2006. Removing Barriers: Women in 
Academic Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Bloomington: Indiana 
University Press. 

Etzkowitz, Henry, Carol Kemelgor, and Brian Uzzi, eds. 2000. Athena Unbound: The 
Advancement of Women in Science and Technology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge 
University Press. 

Hall, Linley Erin. 2007. Who's Afraid of Marie Curie? The Challenges Facing Women in 
Science and Technology. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press. 

Hosek, Susan D. et al. 2005. "Gender Differences in Major Federal External Grant 
Programs." Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical 
reports/TR307/index.html. 

Kimura, Doreen. 2007. " 'Underrepresentation' or Misrepresentation?" In Why Aren't 
More Women in Science?: Top Researchers Debate the Evidence, edited by Stephen J. 
Ceci and Wendy M. Williams, 39 46. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological 
Association. 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-7. Employed scientists and engineers, by occupa- 
tion, highest degree level, race/ethnicity, and sex: 2006." Women, Minorities, and 
Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. National Science Foundation, 



Issues | 35 

Division of Science Resources Statistics, Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data 
System (SESTAT). http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh-7.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-19. Employed scientists and engineers, by sector 
of employment, broad occupation, sex, race/ethnicity, and disability status: 2006." 
Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. National 
Science Foundation, Division of Science Resource Statistics, Scientists and Engineers 
Statistical Data System (SESTAT). http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh-19.pdf. 

Rosser, Sue V. 2004. The Science Glass Ceiling: Academic Women Scientists and the 
Struggle to Succeed. New York: Routledge. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1982. Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 
1940. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1995. Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 
1940 1972. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Summers, Lawrence. 2005. "Remarks at NBER Conference on Diversifying the Science & 
Engineering Workforce." Harvard University. Office of the President. (14 January 
2005). http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/summers 2005/nber.php. 

"Women Faring Well in Hiring and Tenure Processes for Science and Engineering Jobs at 
Research Universities, but Still Underrepresented in Applicant Pools." National 
Research Council. Committee on Gender Differences in Careers of Science, Engineer- 
ing, and Mathematics Faculty. News from the National Academies. (2 June 2009). 
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID= 12062. 



Jobs for Women Scientists: Government 

According to a 2006 report from the National Science Foundation, 10.4% of all 
women employed in science- and engineering-related occupations worked in 
federal, state, or local government, only slightly less than the number employed 
in academia (NSF Table H-19). Although more attention is paid to job outlooks 
and conditions for women scientists, students, and faculty members in academia, 
the connection between government and science, especially beginning in the 
mid-twentieth century, has meant not only more funding for academic research, 
but more government-based research as well. A few notable women were employed 
by the U.S. government in the late nineteenth century, and these were clustered in 
a few agencies, in particular the USDA and USGS. In 1896, Florence Bascom 
was the first female scientist hired at the USGS; in 1910, Eloise Gerry began 
working at the U.S. Forest Service; and in 1916, Ida Bengtson was the first woman 
scientist to join the U.S. Public Health Service (later known as the National Insti- 
tutes of Health) (Rossiter 1982, 219). World War I and the era of Progressive 
reform saw the creation of numerous federal bureaucracies and agencies. 



36 | American Women of Science since 1900 

From the 1910s through the 1930s, many women with science and math back- 
grounds filled low-level, underpaid, "women's" jobs as clerks, stenographers, 
indexers, science writers, and laboratory assistants, but few were able to advance 
to managerial or project director positions. Progressive reform efforts also saw 
increases in the numbers of women employed in public health, child welfare, psy- 
chology, and other social work in state and local government offices and institu- 
tions, while wildlife biologists, botanists, and archaeologists worked for 
government field stations and publicly funded museums. 

The USDA (which encompassed numerous departments or bureaus related to issues 
of food and nutrition, agriculture, bacteriology, chemistry, and home economics, 
among others), in particular, has always been a significant employer of women, as sci- 
entists but also in clerical and nonscientific positions. A 1925 report by the new federal 
Women's Bureau found that a full two-thirds of women scientists employed by the 
federal government worked at the USDA, most as botanists or chemists (Rossiter 
1982, 227). Within the USDA, women were concentrated in food, nutrition, and plant 
sciences, or in home economics, and many women scientists achieved early positions 
of prominence. Flora Patterson supervised the herbarium in the Bureau of Plant 
Industry for nearly 30 years at the turn of the twentieth century. Chemist Mary Pen- 
nington spent a decade as chief of the food research laboratory after it was established 
in 1908. And chemist Louise Stanley was for many years the highest-paid and highest- 
ranking women scientist in the federal government as head of the USDA's Bureau of 
Home Economics, a position she held for more than 25 years, from 1923 to 1950. 
The USDA remains a significant employer of women, reporting in 2007 that women 
make up 44% of their total permanent workforce (USDA Newsroom, 2007). 

The immediate postwar period saw a retrenchment of positions for women, 
however, as returning male veterans filled available jobs, a pattern repeated in 
the World War II era. The labor shortage brought on by World War II, combined 
with wartime technical needs, meant more employment opportunities for female 
scientists in government and industry during the war as nuclear physicists, 
chemists, meteorologists, and engineers. While some earlier female-dominated 
agencies, such as agriculture and nutrition, were significantly decreased, new areas 
of growth brought large numbers of microbiologists, mathematicians, engineers, 
and toxicologists into government work; the Department of Defense became 
the largest government employer of women after World War II (Rossiter 1995, 
277-279). After the war, however, there was a precipitous drop in the numbers of 
women scientists and engineers in government agencies, numbers that would not 
be recovered again until the 1970s, when the government was forced to change 
due to its own antidiscrimination civil rights legislation. 

Throughout the twentieth century, government agencies, unlike academia or 
private industry, seem to have been less likely to discriminate in hiring and 



Issues | 37 

advancement based on gender and less likely to be concerned about a woman's 
marital status. Nor did the government follow anti-nepotism rules that kept many 
women scientists of the early twentieth century out of academic appointments if 
they were married to fellow scientists. High-profile scientist couples who built 
careers outside of academia in the mid-twentieth century included crystallogra- 
phers Jerome and Isabella Karle, who spent more than six decades at the Naval 
Research Laboratory, and physicists Maurice and Gertrude Goldhaber, who left 
academia to work at Brookhaven National Laboratory for more than 30 years, also 
consulting at Argonne and Los Alamos laboratories. 

The 1950s brought new national commitments and international competition in 
the space race and the nuclear arms race. These political and military concerns ush- 
ered in a "golden age" of government funding for science and technology innova- 
tion, and the greater numbers of Ph.D. s awarded after the 1960s meant that 
academia could not provide employment for all trained scientists, although supply 
and demand varied by field. New science and technology research programs within 
all four branches of the U.S. military grew exponentially in the post-World War II 
and Cold War eras. One of the newest and most noteworthy federal programs of the 
era was the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Created 
in 1958, it took 25 years, until 1983, for NASA to allow women into the astronaut 
program. Since the 1980s, women scientists and engineers at NASA have distin- 
guished themselves as astronauts (in 2009, NASA sent its fiftieth female astronaut, 
Karen Nyberg, into space), as well as on the ground as aerospace engineers, com- 
puter scientists, physicists, chemists, and medical and biological researchers. 

Along with the space program, the federal government (under the auspices of the 
military, or through agencies such as the USGS) has sponsored geological and 
oceanographic expeditions, sending the first women scientists to the Arctic, to Ant- 
arctica, under the sea, and to other points around the globe. The development of the 
computer in the second half of the twentieth century also ushered in a new era of 
opportunities for women scientists and engineers. Many women worked for 
government agencies responsible for the early stages of computer development, 
and the first programming languages, software programs, and Internet applications 
were developed for government and military use. 

Women scientists working within the government faced different opportunities 
and different paths, but some of the same issues as women in industry or academia. 
Gender bias and work/life balance issues affect professional women across 
disciplines and sectors of employment, but differences in flexibility, work sched- 
ules, and even pay have led many women scientists to see advantages in nonaca- 
demic positions. Industry and government salaries are potentially higher than 
those in academia, even without a doctorate, such as in computer sciences and 
engineering. Scientists working in government jobs do not have the same tenure 



38 | American Women of Science since 1900 

and publication pressures required for advancement in academia, and government 
agencies often have firmer, more objective promotion and pay policies that make 
subtle bias against women harder to justify. But the "glass ceiling," an invisible 
barrier to women's advancement to the highest levels, still exists. A 2005 Equal 
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) report on six national energy 
and weapons laboratories found that women are still disadvantaged when it comes 
to pay and rates of promotion within government positions. Among their specific 
findings related to gender were that women consistently earned 2% to 4% less than 
men (and minorities earned less than whites), and the report responded to concerns 
about the underrepresentation of women in certain jobs and opportunities for 
women to advance their government careers (U.S. GAO 2005). Likewise, a 2002 
study of Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago found that female Ph.D.s were 
more likely to start at a lower pay level, while men were hired in at higher levels, 
thus putting women on a slower promotion track (Hall 2007, 190). Combined with 
time off or part-time status to raise families, this may potentially put women years 
behind their male colleagues who entered the field at the same time. Finally, con- 
cerns about underrepresentation in certain fields or agencies means that if few 
women are employed in a particular lab or facility, it may be difficult to find men- 
tors or networks. 

Still, it is widely believed that corporations and government agencies are more 
likely to have family-friendly and flexible work policies, compared to academia, 
including more set work hours (a 40-hour week compared to the sometimes 
around-the-clock expectations of university labs). Scientists employed in 
government labs are also able to focus solely on research, without teaching and 
other student-related or administrative duties demanded in academia. The possible 
downside of government employment, compared to a university setting, is that 
someone else (besides the scientist) often sets the research agenda, either accord- 
ing to government policy directives or corporate interests based on profit. Scien- 
tists working in government (and industry) in collaboration, where a larger 
policy (or profit) motive determines the course of research, do not tend to receive 
the individual recognition that professors do, who must be concerned with the 
originality of their work for gains of tenure, awards, and prizes. 

Still, by the end of the twentieth century, many women had achieved "firsts" 
in the highest-level national government appointments. Aeronautics engineer 
Sheila Widnall served as Secretary of the U.S. Air Force (1993-1997), the first 
woman to lead a branch of the military; pediatrician Antonia Novello was the first 
female U.S. Surgeon General (1990-1993); cardiologist Bernadine Healy was the 
first woman to head the National Institutes of Health (1991-1993); and economist 
Alice Rivlin was the first director of the Congressional Budget Office (1993-1996). 
In 2009 alone, two women were named as heads of important federal scientific 



Issues | 39 



agencies: marine ecologist Jane Lub- 
chenco as head of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA) and geophysicist Marcia 
McNutt as head of the USGS and 
science advisor to the Cabinet-level 
Secretary of the Interior. 

A 2003 study by the National Sci- 
ence Foundation found that half of all 
doctorate-holding life scientists and at 
least two-thirds of physical scientists 
were working outside of academia, in 
either government or industry. In 
specific fields, such as engineering or 
computer science, the majority of grad- 
uates expect nonacademic employ- 
ment. In the same 2003 NSF study, 
only 2% of computer scientists and 
engineers were employed as professors 
in colleges or universities (Hall 2007, 
186). The line between academia, 
government, and industry is not always 
clear in the United States, however. 
Many women scientists move across 

these various sectors of employment over the course of their careers, working in 
government but holding honorary affiliations at universities or teaching part-time 
at either the beginning or retirement phase of their careers, holding faculty appoint- 
ments but consulting on specific government projects, or working for private compa- 
nies that support government and military needs. 




Aeronautical engineer Sheila Widnall, 1993. 
Widnall was the first female Secretary of the 
U.S. Air Force. (Department of Defense) 



References and Further Reading 

Hall, Linley Erin. 2007. Who's Afraid of Marie Curie? The Challenges Facing Women in 
Science and Technology. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press. 

Jack, Jordynn. 2009. Science on the Home Front: American Women Scientists in World 
War II. Champaign: University of Illinois Press. 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-19. Employed scientists and engineers, by sector 
of employment, broad occupation, sex, race/ethnicity, and disability status: 2006." 
Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. National 
Science Foundation, Division of Science Resource Statistics, Scientists and Engineers 
Statistical Data System (SESTAT). http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh-19.pdf. 



40 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1982. Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 
1940. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1995. Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 
1940 1972. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

USDA Newsroom. 2007. "USDA Observes National Women's History Month and 
Acknowledges USDA Women Who Moved History Forward." http://www 
.ascr.usda.gov/news women.html. 

U.S. Government Accountability Office. 2005. "Equal Employment Opportunity: Infor- 
mation on Personnel Actions, Employee Concerns, and Oversight at Six DOE Labora- 
tories." (February 2005). http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05190.pdf. 

Williams, Kathleen Broome. 2001. Improbable Warriors: Women Scientists and the US 
Navy in World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. 



Jobs for Women Scientists: Industry, Business, 
and Nonprofit Research 

Throughout the twentieth century, there have been both advantages and disadvan- 
tages for women scientists working in industry, business, private research, non- 
profit organizations, or self-employment. In the nineteenth century, many women 
were engaged in "amateur" science as independent natural historians, botanists, 
wildlife preservationists, ornithologists, geologists, anthropologists, and archaeol- 
ogists. Even as the scientific disciplines were professionalized, and university 
training became a standard requirement, women with any level of scientific back- 
ground might find employment in a variety of settings. Still, women scientists 
employed in private industry have not always had the advantages of built-in 
organizational structures (including mentoring networks) that women in univer- 
sities or in government agencies have had, where scientists are often organized 
by field and, early on, university- or discipline-wide studies were commissioned 
and internal guidelines set. The federal Women's Bureau tracked the employment 
status, titles, and salaries of government workers, and women in academia were 
able to track and advocate for women's representation in specific disciplines. On 
the other hand, industry and business have sometimes had more flexible hiring 
and advancement criteria, and over the course of the twentieth century, many 
women were able to make careers for themselves that combined research and 
management. 

The demand for scientists, and therefore opportunities for women, has been 
especially great in industries related to major technological and scientific advances 
over the course of the last century, such as computers, engineering, aerospace, 



Issues | 41 



Mary Kies, First American Woman to Receive a Patent 

Mary Dixon Kies (1 752-1 837) was the first woman to be granted a patent from the 
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Her 1809 patent was for the development of a 
new technique for using thread to weave straw for women's bonnets and hats. 
A few years earlier, another woman, Betsy Metcalf, had invented a popular 
technique for braiding straw for hats, but Metcalf never sought a patent. Since 
early American women could not legally own their own property, few stepped 
forward to protect their inventions in their own names. The timing was right for 
Kies, however, as the U.S. government was limiting the importation of European 
goods and encouraging domestic manufacturing. The Patent Act of 1790 was 
passed to encourage American innovation, which was made possible by the 
new technologies of the industrial revolution. Many items previously produced by 
women in the home were shifting to factory production, and straw hat production, 
in particular, was central to the New England economy. All of this must have been 
apparent to Kies, convincing her to seek protection and validation for her idea. 
First Lady Dolley Madison reportedly singled out Kies and praised her for her 
work. Unfortunately, Kies's original patent paperwork was destroyed, along 
with records of numerous other early American inventions, in a Patent Office fire 
in 1836. 



pharmaceutical and medical research, materials sciences, and automotive, plastics, 
and other applied industrial fields. In 2006, among employed women with a 
science- or engineering-related degree (bachelor's or above), a majority, some 
58.5%, were employed in science-related occupations within business, industry, 
or nonprofit organizations. This is compared to only slightly above 13% of women 
with science degrees then employed at four-year universities or colleges and 
another 13% employed at secondary schools, two-year colleges, or other educa- 
tional institutions. Teaching or university research, therefore, is not the primary 
employment of American women scientists. Still others (4.6% of those in 
science-related fields in 2006) have chosen self-employment, the majority of these 
as psychologists or computer scientists (NSF Table H-19). 

The Industrial Revolution and then wartime labor and technological needs 
during World War I opened up new industries with needs for more chemists, phys- 
icists, engineers, and mathematicians. Although it was difficult for women to hold 
onto industry jobs after veterans returned from the war (a pattern repeated after 
World War II), and although jobs were cut during the Great Depression and 
employers preferred to give the few available jobs to men (with many companies 
practicing the idea of a "family wage," i.e., the belief that men needed jobs more 
than women because men had families to support), many women scientists found 



42 | American Women of Science since 1900 

success throughout these decades in the areas of food development and production 
(including agricultural sciences), nutrition, and household products technology 
(Rossiter 1982). Although the post-World War II era also saw the creation of 
new industries, particularly in consumer product development and military tech- 
nology, there was another backlash against women workers that included social 
pressure for women to leave paid employment after marriage. These policies, 
whether formal or informal, made it difficult for women to enter into the new tech- 
nological and engineering fields that were exploding in the 1950s and 1960s. A 
few notable women scientists emerge from this time period, but they were often 
the exceptions in heavily male-dominated fields of this era. 

Among fields in which women had a significant presence in private employment 
(business, industry, or self-employment) in the 1950s and 1960s were psychology 
(with women making up 10.25% of psychologists in the nongovernment and non- 
academic sectors by 1968), computer sciences (8.7%), and statistics (7%) (Rossiter 
1995, 259). Despite early advances in fields such as psychology, however, wom- 
en's numbers in psychology, earth sciences, and agricultural sciences remained rel- 
atively constant from the 1950s through the 1960s, while their numbers nearly 
doubled in the "hard" sciences of mathematics, chemistry, and physics, a sign of 
industry's labor needs due to rapid technological and scientific advances in the 
post- World War II era. Besides the large numbers of women employed directly 
by the U.S. government, throughout the 1950s and 1960s, government money 
flowed to private institutions, businesses, and nonprofit research centers, including 
medical research institutes, observatories, and corporations that directly supported 
government programs, such as engineering firms contracted by NASA. 

The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and then the women's movement 
of the 1970s brought legislative and social pressures on private business to conduct 
their hiring and advancement practices in a gender-neutral manner, and to expand 
the numbers of women on their payrolls and in high-level positions. Decades after 
these shifts, however, women still face problems related to recruitment, retention, 
and advancement across employment sectors. One problem for private industry is 
in preparing women scientists for nonacademic careers. Despite the fact that a 
large number of women with science educational backgrounds will go on to work 
in industry, business, and private research centers, the primary emphasis during 
graduate programs is undoubtedly on the academic job market rather than oppor- 
tunities in a variety of other research or business settings. Depending on the spe- 
cific field, professors are less likely to have connections outside of academia to 
connect students with mentors and opportunities. Even worse (and, again, depend- 
ing on the field or discipline), some professors may view corporate employment or 
business leadership positions as "selling out" on the purity of the research agenda. 
Last, the limitations of academic employment (long hours, low pay, slow 



Issues | 43 

advancement) may do more to lead women to nonacademic careers than a choice 
among equally desirable opportunities. For example, one survey of women scien- 
tists employed in industry found that nearly one-third of the respondents "chose 
the business sector not because they were recruited into it, but because they did 
not feel welcomed into academia" (Catalyst, 1999). 

The problem is not just with an insular academic culture, however, as once 
employees enter into nonacademic employment, it may be difficult to find other 
women as mentors or role models. The "glass ceiling" and the "old boys' net- 
works" form invisible barriers to women's advancement into high-level positions, 
and create an informal paternalistic corporate culture that keeps women out of the 
information loop, fosters stereotypes that prevent supervisors from giving women 
important or difficult assignments, or sometimes discourages women from seeking 
those positions, especially in science-related fields, which are still seen as male 
fields (Catalyst, 1999). Even with legal protection against discrimination, women 
in private employment may also be subject to subtle forms of discrimination due 
to a lack of formal industry-wide policies or grievance procedures. Just as in 
academia, women's professional organizations have sprung up by industry in an 
effort to bring women together and provide career advice, information about job 
openings, opportunities to present at conferences or participate in professional 
meetings, and mentoring relationships. 

Scientists in business and industry may also need experience in management or 
in profit-related activities related to marketing and sales, and therefore are not 
necessarily focused only on research. Pharmaceuticals, the automotive industry, 
and new "green" technologies, household products, and chemicals — these are all 
examples of science-intensive industries that are also heavily profit-driven. 
Advancement in corporate or private industry is often based, then, not solely on 
educational background, but on management skills and experience acquired on 
the job. The numbers of women managers are still low in part because many busi- 
ness schools (programs for the MBA, Master's of Business Administration) did not 
admit women until the second half of the twentieth century, and it has taken one or 
more generations for women to gain access to education and then employment, and 
then work their way to the highest levels. In 2006, women still made up only 21 .6% 
of managers in science- and engineering-related positions; the greatest percentage 
of managers were found in the medical and health services fields, probably taking 
into account the large number of female nurse managers, while the smallest 
percentage of female managers were found in engineering (NSF Table H-34). 

Individual women, of course, have excelled in industry, just as in other sectors, 
and private research has inspired a large number of female innovators and inventors. 
Chemist Stephanie Kwolek invented a fire-retardant fabric, Kevlar, while working 
for DuPont industries in the 1970s and 1980s; botanist Wanda Farr, the discoverer 



44 | American Women of Science since 1900 

of cellulose, worked for American Cyanamid Company and for Celanese Corpora- 
tion of America in the 1940s; physicist Katharine Blodgett developed nonreflect- 
ing glass while working for General Electric; engineer Edith Clarke designed 
large electric power systems at General Electric in the 1930s and 1940s; and physi- 
cist Joan Mitchell spent her entire career at IBM, where she helped develop the 
JPEG image compression format. By the 1980s, women were gaining entry into 
higher-level managerial and even executive positions. Physicist Betsy Ancker- 
Johnson and economist Marina Whitman were both vice presidents of General 
Motors Corporation for a time, and mechanical engineer Rodica Baranescu had a 
long career as a manager at International Truck and Engine Corporation. 

Women have also excelled as scientists at private, nonprofit research centers 
and institutions. Geneticist Barbara McClintock conducted her Nobel Prize- 
winning research on maize at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and more recently, 
women have served as heads or directors of such institutions, including marine 
geologist Marcia McNutt as CEO and president of the Monterey Bay Aquarium 




Edith Clarke, right, was one of the first female electrical engineers in the United States. 
(Bettmann/Corbis) 



Issues | 45 




Geneticist Barbara McClintock. (National Library of Medicine) 



Research Institute and atmospheric scientist Susan K. Avery as director of the 
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Self-employment has also been an option 
in many fields, and some women scientists founded their own companies. Com- 
puter scientists and engineers have been most successful in this category, as rapid 
technological advances and new applications opened up new business models and 
opportunities: Adele Goldberg, founder of Parc-Place Systems; Evelyn Berezin 
of Redactron; Sandra Kurtzig of ASK Computer Systems; and Roberta 
Williams, founder of Sierra On-Line, a computer games company. 

In the first half of the twentieth century, self-employment may have been the 
only choice for some women scientists, as opportunities in academia or business 
may not have been available, or may not have been desirable due to considerations 
of dual-career couples or geographical mobility. Botanist Cynthia Westcott 
entered private practice as a plant pathologist and popular garden writer in the 
1930s after she was unable to obtain professional employment. In the later twenti- 
eth century, some women trained in the sciences took advantage of new technolo- 
gies (television and the Internet) to launch careers in the popular media instead of 



46 | American Women of Science since 1900 

in research or teaching. Psychologists Joyce Brothers and Ruth Westheimer are 
two of the most recognizable names in popular culture, both of them pioneering 
the use of radio, television, and popular books for administering mental-health 
and relationship advice. Susan Love left an academic teaching position to create 
her own breast cancer foundation and advocacy group, a route followed by other 
health professionals, including physician and women's natural health advocate 
Christiane Northrup and epidemiologist Mary Harris, who created a foundation 
and a website for disseminating information on African American women's 
health. Others combined backgrounds and interests in science and journalism to 
become prolific and popular science writers, such as naturalists Marcia Bonta 
and Anne LaBastille, and science writers Natalie Angier and Jane Brody. 

Private employment has often been seen as more flexible for women workers, 
with more dependable working hours, and more opportunities for advancement 
based on experience and skills acquired on the job. As in other employment sectors, 
women scientists in industry and business are concerned about issues of work/life 
balance, including accommodations for dual-career couples and childcare arrange- 
ments. Some have found that the corporate world offers more stable and predictable 
working hours, unlike academia, which expects sometimes 24-hour commitments 
to the laboratory or project. Others find that, in order to attract quality workers, 
some corporations have made efforts to implement generous family leave and other 
policies, such as dependent healthcare, on-site childcare, or family leave; these 
corporations are widely advertised as "family-friendly" places to work and are not 
subject to the bureaucracy and reluctance to change that can sometimes characterize 
academic or government employers. 

References and Further Reading 

Catalyst. 1999. "Women Scientists in Industry: A Winning Formula for Companies." 
Catalyst, Inc. (June 1999). http://www.catalyst.org/publication/73/women-scientists 
-in-industry-a-winning-formula-for-companies. 

Mattis, Mary and Jennifer Allyn. 1999. "Women Scientists in Industry." In Women in 
Science and Engineering: Choices for Success, edited by Cecily Cannan Selby. The 
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 869: 143 155. (15 April 1999). 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-19. Employed scientists and engineers, by sector 
of employment, broad occupation, sex, race/ethnicity, and disability status: 2006." 
Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. National 
Science Foundation, Division of Science Resource Statistics, Scientists and Engineers 
Statistical Data System (SESTAT). http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh-19.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-34. Scientists and engineers employed in busi- 
ness and industry, by managerial occupation, sex, race/ethnicity, and disability status: 
2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. 



Issues | 47 

National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Scientists and 
Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT). http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/ 
tabh-34.pdf. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1982. Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 
1940. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1995. Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 
1940 1972. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 



Work/Life Balance for Women Scientists 



As more women have become scientists and taken their places in academic 
research, industry, business, and government, has the profession of science become 
more family-friendly? Finding a desirable and manageable balance between work- 
ing life and family life is something with which all working women, but especially 
working mothers, struggle. The issue seems to be compounded for women in the 
sciences, not only because of the demanding work hours and conditions, but 
because of the sense that science is still a primarily male profession. Women scien- 
tists in a variety of employment settings are less likely to have female support or 
role models, and more likely to feel 
the need to prove themselves as 
capable of performing in male- 
dominated fields and capable of put- 
ting in the required time and energy 
to succeed. 

In his controversial 2005 address on 
women in the sciences, Harvard Uni- 
versity president Lawrence Summers 
acknowledged that scientific research 
and faculty positions offer little flexi- 
bility, often demanding that the lab 
come before family and social life. 
Summers presented, as one of the rea- 
sons that there are fewer female ten- 
ured faculty scientists, the idea that 
women may be less willing to devote 
the time, energy, and sacrifice neces- 
sary to reach the highest levels of this 
career path (Summers 2005). The industrial psychologist and engineer, Lillian 
problem, of course, is not specific or Gilbreth, 1944. (AP/Wide World Photos) 




48 | American Women of Science since 1900 

unique to academic science, nor is it necessarily specific to women, as male 
employees now frequently expect more flexibility and balance in order to enjoy 
and participate in family life as well. Still, the issue of flexibility and responsibility 
for the care of children seems to affect women disproportionately. Even Summers, 
as the president of perhaps the most prestigious institution of higher education in 
the nation, could only wonder at the fact that Harvard will pay tuition for college- 
aged children of faculty, but offers nothing in the way of childcare subsidies for 
families with young children. Unfortunately, Summers did not go on to explain 
how, as president, he might address or remedy this situation. His combined remarks 
about women's interest in, aptitude for, and commitment to careers in science led to 
Summers's resignation; as he was replaced in 2007 with Harvard's first female 
president in the university's 370-year history, it will be interesting to see if the 
priorities or focus on such issues will shift. 

The conflict between work and family life is, again, not particular to science or to 
academia, although there are some specific issues related to the university 
setting. It is also a larger social and political issue involving the historical role of 
women in the workplace, ideas about gender roles in marriage and parenting, and 
access to affordable and quality childcare. Except for anomalous periods such as 
the World War II era of unprecedented female workplace participation, the number 
of working mothers has steadily increased over the course of the twentieth century. 
In 1940 (before the outbreak of the war), only 10% of married mothers worked for 
wages. This number rose to 36% in 1975, and reached more than 50% by the late 
1980s (Coleman, Ganong, and Warzinik 2007, 147). By the end of the first decade 
of the twenty-first century, an astounding 70% of married mothers were in the labor 
force at least part of the year, and 57% of mothers with infants worked for wages 
(U.S. Census Bureau 2008a; U.S. Census Bureau 2008c). These numbers vary by 
race, as black women, for example, have historically had higher labor force participa- 
tion. In 1960, only 18% of married white mothers of preschool-aged children worked 
compared to 3 1 % of married black mothers (Coleman, Ganong, and Warzinik 2007, 
147). That gap is closing; as of 2005, some 70% of white mothers were in the work- 
force, compared to 76% of black mothers, and the lowest numbers were found among 
Latina mothers, 59% of whom worked (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2005). 

The burden of childcare (either providing it or securing it) and of household work 
also falls disproportionately upon women, whether married or single. While more 
than 70% of mothers are now in the paid labor force, the other 24% of married 
mothers of young children stay home full-time to care for children (U.S. Census 
Bureau 2008a). Despite much recent attention to the stay-at-home father as a new 
phenomena, and despite the very real numbers of actual men who take on that role, 
as a percentage of overall parenting arrangements, full-time fatherhood still accounts 
for only a tiny minority of family arrangements. In 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau 



Issues | 49 



Science and Surrogacy 

The controversial area of reproductive science and technologies exploded into the 
public consciousness in the early 1980s. Just as the birth-control pill of the 1960s 
had separated sex and reproduction, scientists now offered the possibility of preg- 
nancy without sexual intercourse at all (through in vitro fertilization, or IVF) and of 
pregnancy and mothering as two separate roles for women (through surrogacy). 
The first "test tube" baby was born in England in 1 978, the product of IVF. The first 
woman to receive money as a surrogate was in 1980, but in the United States, the 
case that brought surrogacy to public attention was that of Mary Beth Whitehead, 
who had been artificially inseminated with the sperm of a man whose wife was 
unable to have children. After giving birth in March 1986, Whitehead decided she 
wanted to keep the baby, who was not genetically related to her. The courts, how- 
ever, upheld the surrogacy contract and granted custody to the biological father, 
choosing genetics over a biological or emotional definition of motherhood through 
pregnancy. The issue raised debates that continue today, even among feminists, 
most of whom support a surrogate's right to use her body in such an arrangement, 
and applaud technological advances that give infertile women more choices, but 
with others criticizing the potential exploitation of "renting out" a woman's womb. 



reported 140,000 full-time stay-at-home fathers out of a total of 22.5 million mar- 
ried couples with children under the age of 18 (U.S. Census Bureau 2008a). While 
that is a significant jump from even a decade ago, that still amounts to roughly only 
0.06% of married households with young children and does not include single 
fathers, fathers working out of their homes (which would presumably make them 
more available in family life, regardless of their involvement in actual childcare), 
fathers working part-time, or fathers temporarily staying home with children (due 
to short-term unemployment, for example), so the actual numbers of men more 
involved in childcare and domestic life than even a generation or two ago is prob- 
ably much higher. Still, the 140,000 self-identified full-time stay-at-home fathers 
must be compared to the 5.3 million married mothers who identify as stay-at- 
home parents. The responsibilities of work and family life are compounded for sin- 
gle parents and, in 2008, nearly 84% of single-parent households were headed by 
women, with more than 70% of those women regularly employed (U.S. Census 
Bureau 2008b). 

Historically, many professional women of the early twentieth century felt 
compelled to choose between career and family. An astonishing number of early 
professional women scientists either never married or, if married, remained child- 
less. Obviously, there are a variety of reasons why a couple (then or now) does not 



50 | American Women of Science since 1900 

have children, but for at least the first half of the twentieth century (and longer in 
some fields), young women would find few role models for combining a high- 
level career with a fulfilling family life. One notable exception was Lillian 
Gilbreth, who not only had a long and productive career as an industrial manage- 
ment engineer, but was famous as the mother of twelve, a life story chronicled in 
the book (and later the film) Cheaper by the Dozen. Gilbreth's case was even more 
unique in that her family was her laboratory, an experiment in itself to support her 
research on efficiency. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was common practice for single 
women to be asked in employment interviews if they planned to marry, and wives 
were asked when they planned to start a family. Also in those years, women who 
became pregnant were expected to quit their jobs, and there were no formal 
maternal-leave policies. Most universities, especially, had nepotism rules, some- 
times unwritten, under which husbands and wives could not work in the same 
department, or sometimes even in the same institution. 

Whereas the social and institutional constraints on women's careers and family 
choices were more obvious or explicit in the early part of the century, subtle pres- 
sures still remain. Despite the women's movement and social and political advan- 
ces in women's status at home and in the workplace, women still not only bear and 
nurse children, but find themselves responsible for the care of young children and 
for the majority of the housework. These biological and family demands interfere 
with not only the educational demands of science careers and the tenure-track 
clock in academia (which disadvantages women across disciplines, not just in 
the sciences), but also with the often around-the-clock demands of laboratory 
research or the extended travel time of fieldwork. 

Whereas today's young woman might consider options such as being a stay-at- 
home parent, telecommuting, or part-time or flex-time work, it has been (and 
remains) difficult to work part-time in many scientific fields, especially research- 
intensive positions or tenured academic positions. Of course, many women have 
found ways to have both a career and a family, usually depending heavily on a 
supportive spouse (often also a colleague or work partner), other family members 
(grandparents), or paid childcare arrangements, whether in-home or outside the 
home. In their memoirs and interviews, women scientists throughout the century 
never fail to make note of the choices and domestic arrangements that made their 
work possible, something rarely found in the career narratives of professional 
men. A 2006 report by the National Science Foundation found that of women with 
science degrees who were not currently employed, the largest percentage (39.6%) 
identified "family responsibilities" as the reason for their unemployment; this was 
compared to only 5.4% of unemployed men who gave "family responsibilities" as 
a reason (the largest number of men, more than 70%, absent from the work- 
force gave their status or reason as "retired") (NSF Table H-12). Accounting for 



Issues | 5 1 

part-time work, a viable option in some but not all employment sectors, the majority 
of part-time scientists are also, not surprisingly, women. Women made up 69.2% 
of part-time scientists in 2006, and the majority of those (56%) again cited "family 
responsibilities" as the reason for their part-time status, compared to only 18% of 
men employed part-time listing "family responsibilities" as the reason (NSF 
Table H-ll). These numbers highlight the choices women must make at various 
life stages, and the fact that women are more likely to accommodate their careers 
around family responsibilities than men. 

When it comes to even getting a job in the first place (whether in academia or 
industry), some feminists fear (and many professional women sense) that 
"employers typically see a man's family as evidence of his stability and dedication 
to work . . . while a woman with a family is often viewed as less serious about her 
career" (Hall 2007, 59). Another interesting find, given the history of high-profile 
science couples in the twentieth century, is that female scientists who marry are 
overwhelmingly more likely to marry another scientist than are male scientists 
who marry. Separate surveys in the 1990s and early 2000s showed, for example, 
that 68% of married female physicists and 52% of married female chemists were 
married to other scientists, compared to only 17% of married male physicists 
and 37% of married male chemists (Hall 2007, 61). Whether this is a question of 
convenience, compatibility, understanding, or shared interests and drive, it may 
also be that high-level career women find nonscientist (or nonprofessional) men 
threatened by their education and ambition. Of course, personal relationships 
between similarly situated professionals present a new set of problems related to 
both partners finding appropriate jobs in the same field. In academia, this is known 
as the "two-body" problem, and often leads to one partner having to accept a lesser 
or temporary position. 

Getting pregnant or having a young child might also put women off the tenure 
track or the job search for a year or more, further placing her career second and 
jeopardizing her future prospects. Gail Simmons, a biologist and dean of science 
at the College of New Jersey, offered advice to women seeking to combine an aca- 
demic science career with family life by recalling her own process of interviewing 
for a position while mothering an infant. Simmons joked that she was surprised to 
find that even fellow biologists "prefer not to be confronted with the mammalian 
nature of a job candidate" (Simmons 2005). A generational shift has begun, 
however, and young women in the twenty-first century have created public conver- 
sations about these dilemmas and offer support and solutions to one another. 
Toxicologist Emily Monosson compiled a 2008 collection of personal essays 
entitled Motherhood, the Elephant in the Laboratory, with one reviewer enthusias- 
tic that "these brief life stories demonstrate that women professionals do not have 
to play by men's rules to have a career." The stories of these women and others 



52 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Women and HIV/AIDS 

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS (acquired immune 
deficiency syndrome) was first identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control 
in the early 1980s. Because the earliest cases were found among homosexual 
men, the disease was referred to as "gay cancer" in the early months of the CDC's 
investigation. This identification of the disease with gay males meant that it took 
some time before the disease was acknowledged in women; even years later, 
when the virus was found in other at-risk groups (including hemophiliacs and 
intravenous-drug users), there was still a denial by many that women were at risk 
through heterosexual intercourse. By 2009, however, women accounted for 1 in 
4 AIDS diagnoses and deaths in the United States and more than half of people 
living with AIDS worldwide. Of those, more than 70% of women afflicted contracted 
the disease through heterosexual activity. HIV/AIDS is also an issue of concern to 
women globally because of the possibility of transmission to children through 
pregnancy and breastfeeding, and because of the high-risk activity of female sex 
workers. Although some new promising drug treatments may alleviate the symp- 
toms of the disease and prolong life expectancy, there is still no cure or vaccine, 
and public health efforts must focus primarily on education and prevention. 



highlight women's efforts at balancing a career at any stage with pregnancy, 
breastfeeding, and childrearing, and provide examples of a range of options prac- 
ticed by women scientists, including part-time work, full-time childcare, leaves of 
absence, job sharing, or independent research and self-employment. 

The women's movement and government equal-opportunity legislation changed 
not only the makeup of the college science classroom, but of academia and the 
professional workplace as well. Women faced fewer social or cultural barriers to 
achieving high-level goals and positions, but the institutional framework for sup- 
porting working mothers with family-friendly policies (including, but not limited 
to childcare) has not necessarily changed since the 1960s and 1970s. It is still usu- 
ally the woman's (mother's) role to "juggle" work and family, and to find a way to 
make it work on an individual basis. The reality, in most instances, is that the work- 
place and the men involved are not expected to accommodate women who choose 
to be there. These are precisely the kinds of sociological and policy issues that have 
been taken up by women social scientists, such as Sylvia Hewlett, who created the 
Center for Work-Life Policy (http://www.worklifepolicy.org) to examine such 
issues, publish research, and make policy recommendations related to women, 
families, and work throughout the life cycle. 



Issues | 53 

References and Further Readings 

Coleman, Marilyn, Lawrence H. Ganong, and Kelly Warzinik. 2007. Family Life in 
20th-century America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 

Hall, Linley Erin. 2007. Who's Afraid of Marie Curie? The Challenges Facing Women in 
Science and Technology. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press. 

Monosson, Emily. 2008. Motherhood, the Elephant in the Laboratory: Women Scientists 
Speak Out. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, http://sciencemoms.wordpress.com/. 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-ll. Scientists and engineers employed part time, 
by preference for full-time employment and reason for working part time, sex, race/ 
ethnicity, and disability status: 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities 
in Science and Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Re- 
sources and Statistics, Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT). 
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh- 1 1 .pdf . 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-12. Scientists and engineers who are unemployed 
or out of labor force, by reason for not working, sex, race/ethnicity, and disability 
status: 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engi- 
neering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources and Statistics, 
Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT). http://www.nsf.gov/ 
statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh- 12.pdf. 

Simmons, Gail M. 2005. "Reproductive Success for Working Scientists." The Chronicle 
of Higher Education. (26 April 2005). http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/04/ 
2005042601c.htm. 

Summers, Lawrence. 2005. "Remarks at NBER Conference on Diversifying the Science & 
Engineering Workforce." Harvard University. Office of the President. (14 January 
2005). http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/summers 2005/nber.php. 

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2005. "Chart 6 4. Black mothers have the highest 
labor force participation rates." (March 2005). http://www.bls.gov/cps/labor2005/ 
chart6-4.pdf. 

U.S. Census Bureau. 2008a. "Table FG8. Married Couple Family Groups with Children 
Under 15 by Stay-At-Home Status of Both Spouses: 2008." America's Families and 
Living Arrangements: 2008. http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/ 
hh-fam/cps2008.html. 

U.S. Census Bureau. 2008b. "Table FG5/1. One-Parent Unmarried Family Groups with Own 
Children Under 18, by Labor Force Status of the Reference Person: 2008." America's 
Families and Living Arrangements: 2008. http://www.census.gov/population/www/ 
socdemo/hh-fam/cps2008.html. 

U.S. Census Bureau. 2008c. "New Analysis Offers State-by-State Look at Fertility." Press 
release. (18 August 2008). http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/ 
archives/population/0 12510.html. 



54 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Minority Women in the Sciences 

Accounting for 38% of new science doctorates and only 31% of science and engi- 
neering faculty, women are the minority in science. Compounded by women's 
even more glaring minority status in specific low-representation fields (such as 
engineering, physics, mathematics, and computer science), women and girls from 
racial and ethnic minorities face additional obstacles when it comes to education, 
resources, opportunity, and employment. According to National Science Founda- 
tion statistics for 2006, less than 2% of doctoral-level engineers were black and 
barely 10% were women of any race. The actual numbers of black women in spe- 
cific fields are even more dismal. Although women consistently earn the majority 
of bachelor's degrees awarded overall to African Americans, in 2006 they held 
38.7% of science and engineering doctorates, a number consistent with women's 
overall presence in the sciences. Broken down by field, however, these were con- 
centrated in psychology, social sciences, and the biological or life sciences, with 
the numbers of black female engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians, or 
physical scientists so negligible as not to be recorded (NSF Table H-7). 

Of course, the numbers and status of minority women scientists vary by racial 
group as well, with different challenges as well as different cultural, educational, 
and familial expectations for different groups of women, whether African American, 
Asian American, or Mexican American. Despite the effects of sexism and racism, 
however, individual women of color have made significant inroads into specific areas 
of science education and employment, thanks to legislation and changing social atti- 
tudes in the second half of the twentieth century. While the percentages of women of 
color in science relative to men of their same racial or ethnic groups would indicate 
that race and sex are not always compounded as disadvantages, it is important to 
point out that the actual numbers of African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, 
and Native Americans (men and women) in the sciences is still quite low, and that 
racial minorities remain grossly underrepresented in science and engineering relative 
to their numbers in the overall U.S. population. 

African American women had some early successes in the sciences, bolstered 
by the opening of black colleges and universities, and the first racially integrated 
colleges, in the late nineteenth century. Many black women scientists of the early 
twentieth century were trained as undergraduates in these colleges, and broke 
through the barriers to graduate study to earn doctorates in many fields by the 
1930s and 1940s. Ruth Howard-Beckham earned her Ph.D. in psychology 
(1934); Marie Daly was the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in 
chemistry (1948); and Phyllis Wallace earned a Ph.D. in economics (1948) and 
Evelyn Boyd Granville a Ph.D. in mathematics (1949), both from Yale. The 
1950s and 1960s saw many black women advance in the medical sciences. 



Issues | 55 

Phyllis Harrison-Ross was an M.D. and a pediatric psychologist; Jewel 
Plummer Cobb held a doctorate in cell biology; and Jean Harris was an M.D. 
and later the mayor of her town. 

Despite some individual successes in the first half of the twentieth century, and 
despite the legislative gains of the civil rights movement, African American women 
continued to face issues of fewer family resources, lower socioeconomic back- 
grounds, inferior educational opportunities, and lack of mentors. The author of the 
2008 book Swimming Against the Tide: African American Girls and Science Educa- 
tion cautions against generalizing about "women in science" without consideration 
of how the economic and racial status of minority women impacts their specific edu- 
cational and employment opportunities beyond the issues facing all women. In the 
case of African American women, there are some unique disadvantages but also some 
advantages or positive forces impacting their experiences of science. For example, 
within the black community, there is often an equal commitment to the education of 
boys and girls, propelled by the historical reality that black women will have to work 
to support their families, the desire for upward mobility within the black community, 
and the historical value placed on access to education. This would be borne out in the 
greater numbers of black women going on to earn college degrees than black men, 
who face their own specific challenges related to sex, race, and economic status or 
expectations. In other words, the particular economic and historical position of black 
families creates a different set of gender expectations than those found in the white 
community. While young white women may have greater access to teachers, books, 
and science equipment, there is not an overall cultural expectation of college atten- 
dance and future employment, the assumption more often being that white women 
will marry and will make a "choice" to pursue a career or a family (Hanson 2008). 

Women in the Asian American community face their own set of stereotypes, cul- 
tural assumptions, and expectations. While the stereotype of Asian women is submis- 
sive and quiet, many immigrant families also expect academic success for their 
children, and there seems to be less of a gender gap between the science education 
and achievement of Asian American male and female students. While their educa- 
tional goals, family expectations, and support may be the same as that offered to boys, 
Asian American girls and women are also subject to institutional discrimination 
along the science pipeline, just like women of other racial subgroups (Lee 2008). 

Despite the stereotype of Asian American overrepresentation in the sciences, 
Asian American students (male and female combined) made up only 10.8% of 
all enrolled engineering undergraduates in 2006, a small percentage of the total, 
but the largest of any nonwhite group (Hispanics made up 9% of all undergradu- 
ates in engineering, and African Americans just 5.7%). Of the Asian American 
students, however, only 20% of those were women (NSF Table B-10). Moving to 
the graduate level, Asian American women accounted for only 6.5% of all female 



56 | American Women of Science since 1900 

science and engineering graduate students in 2006 (NSF Table D-2). Finally, 
although the perception among some has been that the Civil Rights Act and politi- 
cal movements of the 1960s and 1970s did not represent Asians — a less vocal 
minority group in American society and history — the fact is that Asian Americans 
significantly outnumber African Americans or Hispanics as employed doctoral- 
level scientists and engineers (NSF Table H-9), and they outnumber blacks and 
Hispanics at all faculty levels within academia (NSF Table H-25). 

Asian American women have achieved at the highest levels of science in aca- 
demia and in business or industry. Chien-Shiung Wu was an early and renowned 
nuclear physicist, earning her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley 
in 1940. Of the next generation, Alice Huang (Ph.D., 1966) was a microbiologist 
who taught at major universities of the East and West Coasts and served as 
president of the American Society of Microbiology. Susan Wu is an aeronautics 
engineer who has consulted privately for NASA and other agencies, and Jennie 
Hwang is a materials engineer and international businesswoman who consults 
on green technologies and on motivating women and minorities in the sciences. 

Mexican Americans and other Hispanics face similar issues to those faced by 
African Americans as far as economic disadvantages and fewer educational 
resources and role models, but Latinas may have additional barriers of living in 
immigrant and migrant communities, and of language obstacles between school 
and home and between generations. They may also come up against cultural expec- 
tations that their primary adult role will be domestic, as mothers, rather than profes- 
sional. Still, in 2006, Hispanic women earned 56% of all science and engineering 
bachelor's degrees awarded to Hispanics; however, this only accounted for 8.5% 
of the degrees awarded to all women (NSF Table C-14). As recipients of STEM 
doctorates, Hispanic women earned more Ph.D.s than either black men or Hispanic 
men, but still earned only 5.6% of doctoral degrees granted to all women (NSF 
Table F-12). Hispanic women students are supported by prominent Hispanic lead- 
ers who provide role models and are committed to highly organized professional 
communities involved in educational outreach and mentorship programs. 

By the 1970s and 1980s, many women of color achieved important "firsts" in 
fields and positions that were slowly opened to American women. Mae Jemison 
became the first black female astronaut and Ellen Ochoa became the first His- 
panic astronaut. Antonia Novello was the first female (and first Hispanic) Surgeon 
General, serving under President George H. W. Bush; a few years later, President 
Clinton also selected a woman as Surgeon General, Joycelyn Elders, also the first 
African American in that position. Physicist France Anne-Dominic Cordova 
worked for NASA and in 2007 was named president of Purdue University, and cell 
biologist Lydia Villa-Komaroff had a career in academia before becoming Chief 
Scientific Officer of a biotechnology company. 



Issues | 57 




Many minority women scientists 
have taken as their topic of research 
and study racial minorities in health- 
care, life sciences and diseases, and 
social sciences. Native American 
women especially were often the first 
and among the few native peoples in 
their fields. Anthropologist Beatrice 
Medicine focused her attention on the 
needs and status of Native American 
women and families. Lora Shields 
received one of the earliest doctorates 
in botany (from the University of Iowa 
in 1947) received by a Native Ameri- 
can; her research focused on the effect 
of uranium mining and nuclear testing 
on vegetation on Navajo lands and res- 
ervations. Agnes Stroud was a biolo- 
gist who also looked at the effect of 
radiation on human health and was 
the first Native American woman sci- 
entist at a national research lab. 

Many Latina and African American 
women also aligned their research interests with issues facing their communities. 
Sociologist Maxine Baca Zinn focused her research on Latino families and 
Mexican American women in particular, and psychologist Jane Delgado has been 
at the forefront of the Hispanic health movement. Niara Sudarkasa and Faye 
Harrison are both anthropologists who study people of African descent throughout 
the world; Mary Harris, who holds a doctorate in genetics, runs a foundation and 
website devoted to African American health issues; Angela Ferguson (M.D., 1949) 
and Helen Ranney (M.D., 1947) both studied sickle-cell anemia, a disease that 
disproportionately affects African Americans. 

Gay and lesbian issues are a new area of minority concern among science and 
engineering professionals, with similar issues of education, policy, and profes- 
sional research interests. Some have identified a "lavender ceiling" preventing the 
advancement of lesbian women within the professions that is a combination of sex- 
ism and heterosexism. Laws against discrimination based on sexual orientation are 
fairly recent, and vary by state and industry. There are no figures on the numbers of 
lesbians in science but, as in the other professions, lesbian women are concerned 
about access to employment benefits, partner or spousal rights, healthcare, and 



Astronaut Mae Jemison on Spacelab-J, 1992. 
(NASA) 



58 | American Women of Science since 1900 

work/life balance. The gay and lesbian community has been organizing since the 
1960s, but the movement did not come into its own politically until the 1990s. 
The issues are ongoing and lesbians stand to gain from, but have not always been 
heard within, both the feminist and the larger gay-rights movements. 

In terms of scientific research itself, various medical and psychological explan- 
ations for homosexuality date back to at least the nineteenth century, but new 
inquiries into unique gay and lesbian health issues, mental health, and the scien- 
tific understandings of homosexuality itself (the nature-versus-nurture question) 
have gained momentum just since the 1990s. In the broadest sense, lesbian issues 
are women's issues and should concern the larger women's movement and inform 
larger debates about women in science and as subjects of scientific research. In 
1993, the American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) issued its statement 
on lesbian health, and in 1999 the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy 
of Science published a book-length report on "Lesbian Health: Current Assess- 
ment and Directions for the Future" (Solarz). The National Organization of Gay 
and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP) is an affiliate of 
the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Gay and Lesbian 
Medical Association (GLMA) is also a major national group that serves as both a 
professional member organization and a research and advocacy group on issues 
related to healthcare specific to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) 
community. The GLMA also publishes its own journal. 

What is needed for the future of minority women in the sciences are the same 
issues that affect all women in the sciences: education, mentorship, funding, 
opportunity, and access to all levels of employment. Racial minority women often 
face double the hurdles, however, as they move through the science education and 
career pipelines. Many national professional organizations, either for women or 
for specific racial minority groups, serve as important clearinghouses for informa- 
tion on research opportunities, educational programs, internships, mentorships, 
prize competitions, and conferences. Some of these that are not specific to women 
include the American Indian Science & Engineering Society, Society for 
Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, National Society of 
Black Engineers, Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists (MAES), 
and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. 

References and Further Reading 

Campbell, George, Ronni Denes, and Catherine Morrison, eds. 2000. Access Denied: 
Race, Ethnicity, and the Scientific Enterprise. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Fausto-Sterling, Anne. "Gender, Race, and Science." Brown University. http://bms 
. brown. edu/faculty/f/afs/afs fields gender.html. 



Issues | 59 

Hanson, Sandra L. 2006. "African American Women in Science: Experiences from High 
School through the Post-secondary Years and Beyond." In Removing Barriers: Women 
in Academic Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, edited by Jill M. 
Bystydzienski and Sharon R. Bird. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

Hanson, Sandra L. 2008. Swimming Against the Tide: African American Girls and Science 
Education. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 

Harding, Sandra, ed. 1993. The "Racial" Economy of Science: Toward a Democratic 
Future. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

Kenschaft, Patricia Clark. 2005. Change Is Possible: Stories of Women and Minorities in 
Mathematics. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society. 

Lee, Jaekyung. 2008. "Asian Americans and the Gender Gap in Science and Technology." 
In Women, Science, and Technology: A Reader in Feminist Science Studies, 2nd edition, 
edited by Mary Wyer et al. New York: Routledge. 

Murphy, Michelle et al. "History of Race in Science." History Department, University of 
Toronto, http://www.racesci.org/. 

National Science Foundation. "Table B-10. Undergraduate enrollment in engineering pro- 
grams, by sex, race/ethnicity, and citizenship: 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons 
with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. Engineering Workforce Commission, 
Engineering & Technology Enrollments: Fall 2006. (Washington, D.C. 2007). http:// 
www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabb-10.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table C-14. Bachelor's degrees, by race/ethnicity, citizen- 
ship, sex, and field: 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science 
and Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statis- 
tics, special tabulations of U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educa- 
tion Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Completions Survey, 
2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabc-14.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table D-2. Female S&E graduate students, by field, citi- 
zenship, and race/ethnicity: 1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabil- 
ities in Science and Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science 
Resources Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and 
Engineering, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabd-2.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-2. S&E doctoral degrees awarded to women, by field: 
1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineer- 
ing. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of 
Earned Doctorates, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabf-2.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-12. Doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens and 
permanent residents, by sex, field, and race/ethnicity: 2006." Women, Minorities, and 
Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. National Science Foundation, 
Division of Science Resource Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2006. http:// 
www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabf-12.pdf. 



60 | American Women of Science since 1900 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-7. Employed scientists and engineers, by occupa- 
tion, highest degree level, race/ethnicity, and sex: 2006." Women, Minorities, and Per- 
sons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. National Science Foundation, 
Division of Science Resources Statistics, Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data 
System (SESTAT). http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh-7.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-9. Employed doctoral scientists and engineers, by 
race/ethnicity and occupation: 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities 
in Science and Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science 
Resources Statistics, Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT). http:// 
www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/figh-9.htm. 

National Science Foundation. "Table H-25. S&E doctorate holders employed in univer- 
sities and 4-year colleges, by broad occupation, sex, race/ethnicity, and faculty rank: 
2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. 
National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of 
Doctorate Recipients, 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh-25.pdf. 

Solarz, Andrea L., ed. 1999. "Lesbian Health: Current Assessments and Directions for the 
Future." Committee on Lesbian Health Research Priorities, Neuroscience and Behav- 
ioral Health Program, Health Sciences Policy Program, Health Sciences Section, Insti- 
tute of Medicine. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. 

Warren, Wini. 1999. Black Women Scientists in the United States. Bloomington: Indiana 
University Press. 



Disciplines 



Aerospace and Astronautics 

Aerospace science encompasses the theory, engineering, and manufacturing of 
aircraft and spacecraft for flight both within and outside of the Earth's atmosphere. 
Astronautics refers specifically to the science and technology of space flight, includ- 
ing manned space flight, and is thus one of the newest scientific disciplines, emerging 
as a distinct field only in the mid-twentieth century. In the United States, the space 
flight program is run by a government agency, the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA), founded in 1958. Aerospace science, or aeronautics, and 
astronautics includes not only astronauts, but scientists and engineers working within 
a variety of research and technical support areas in both industry and government set- 
tings. Persons working within the aerospace and astronautics fields may have 
advanced degrees and experience in physics, electrical and mechanical engineering, 
mathematics, chemistry, environmental sciences, astronomy and astrophysics, 
biology, and even medicine. The first generation of American astronauts were usually 
trained military pilots, but the astronaut program eventually recruited doctoral- 
level scientists and engineers with specialized knowledge in a range of disciplines. 
Although early mathematicians, physicists, astronomers, and writers theorized the 
possibility of space travel (and of flight in general), aerodynamics and rocket science 
were technological triumphs of the twentieth century. The American aerospace sci- 
ence industry and astronaut training programs are the result of the Cold War-era 
"space race" between the United States and Russia. After Russia launched the 
Sputnik space satellite in 1957, the United States began its own space program in 
1958; 10 years later, American astronauts landed on the moon. The Russian Mir 
space station was launched in 1986 and, in the post-Cold War era, construction of 
the international space station began in 1998, with scheduled completion by 201 1. 
Over the past 50 years, then, the American space program has evolved from competi- 
tion to cooperation, and from individual unmanned rockets and satellites to a full- 
crew shuttle program, and American women have been involved in all phases. 



61 



62 | American Women of Science since 1900 



The first woman in space was 
Russian cosmonaut Valentina Teresh- 
kova in 1963. At that time, the United 
States did not yet allow women into 
the astronaut training program, and it 
would take another 20 years until the 
United States put its first woman in 
space, Sally Ride in 1983. It was not 
until 1978 that NASA opened the 
astronaut program to female candi- 
dates, but women had already played 
a significant role in the development 
of the space program to that date. It 
was a woman who helped write the 
legislation that led to the founding of 
the National Aerospace and Space 
Act two decades earlier. Congressional 
researcher Eilene Galloway had writ- 
ten a report on "Guided Missiles in 
Foreign Countries" and was involved 
in drafting treaties and legislation 
regarding rules for peaceful inter- 
national space exploration, leading to 
the creation of NASA in 1958. 
The following year, capitalizing on the space race combined with public 
interest in female pilots such as Amelia Earhart and the Women's Air Force 
Service Pilots (WASPs) during World War II, Dr. William Randolph Lovelace 
established a privately run Woman in Space program. Pilot Geraldyne "Jerrie" 
Cobb helped create physical-fitness tests for women and, in 1961, 13 female 
pilots, including Cobb, passed the training tests at Lovelace's New Mexico 
facility. But politics and social restrictions still interfered with women's entrance 
into the space program, and, without official support from NASA, the military 
put a stop to further testing and training of women pilots. Cobb and the others 
appealed to Congress in 1962, claiming sex discrimination, but NASA represen- 
tatives and male astronauts testified that the women lacked training as military 
pilots and lacked engineering degrees. Of course, at that time, women were 
routinely excluded from those very opportunities that would have opened this 
career path. Although Congress would not require NASA to establish a women's 
training program, Cobb and the other pilots were proud that they passed the 
same physical and psychological requirements as the male astronauts who 




Commercial pilot Jerrie Cobb helped develop 
astronaut training tests for women in the early 
1960s. (Bettmann/Corbis) 



Disciplines | 63 



Eilene Galloway 

Eilene Marie Slack Galloway (1906-2009) helped research and write the National 
Aeronautics and Space Act, which led to the creation of the National Aeronautics 
and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. Galloway, a Congressional 
researcher, began working as early as 1941 on guidelines and legislation regard- 
ing peaceful international space exploration, and in 1958 worked with Senator 
Lyndon B. Johnson on the Congressional hearings advocating the creation of a 
U.S. space agency. She later served on numerous advisory committees for NASA 
and was a founding member of the International Institute of Space Law. Galloway 
was not a scientist, but helped pave the way for American space exploration and 
technological innovation, ushering in the era of the space race and the moon land- 
ing. She was honored for her contribution to the space program with several 
NASA awards and was also named a fellow of the American Astronautical Society 
and, in 1987, the first recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in 
Aerospace. In 2006, she was the first woman to be named an Honorary Fellow 
of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Galloway died in 
2009, just a few days before her 103rd birthday. 



eventually flew missions for NASA, and considered themselves the "First Lady 
Astronaut Trainees" (or FLATs). 

Although the Navy and Air Force began training women as pilots in the mid- 
1970s, after the Apollo program ended, NASA eliminated the jet-pilot requirement 
for astronauts and began seeking candidates with science and engineering back- 
grounds, including women. In 1978, the first six women astronauts were chosen: 
Sally Ride, Kathryn Sullivan, Anna Fisher, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Judith 
Resnik, and Shannon Lucid. Ride was the first American woman to fly in space, 
Sullivan the first to walk in space; Fisher was the first mother in orbit, while 
Seddon's pregnancy barred her from the early flights; engineer Resnik died in 
the Challenger disaster of 1986; and Lucid spent 179 days aboard the space station 
Mir, a record for any astronaut, male or female. During the 1980s, these women 
received a great deal of media attention, but each year, more women joined the 
program. In 1995, Eileen Collins was the first woman to pilot a space shuttle, ful- 
filling the dream of the original pilot trainees of the 1960s, and in 2007, Peggy 
Whitson became the first female commander of the International Space Station. 
By 2008, America's fiftieth woman astronaut flew in space. 

Besides the astronauts, all of whom have been highly skilled scientific special- 
ists, many other women have been involved in NASA research and space missions. 
Women engineers and scientists compute orbits for missiles, rockets, and space 



64 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Karen Nyberg 

In May 2008, astronaut Karen LuJean Nyberg (b. 1969) became the fiftieth 
American woman in space when she flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery on 
a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. Nyberg served as ground 
crew support before entering the astronaut training program in 2000. She studied 
mechanical engineering at the University of North Dakota and conducted gradu- 
ate research at the University of Texas, Austin on thermoregulation control and 
human metabolic testing. She worked as an Environmental Control Systems 
Engineer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) after 
receiving her doctorate in 1998. She received a patent for work at the Johnson 
Space Center on a Robot Friendly Probe and Socket Assembly. Before taking 
her first shuttle spaceflight, Nyberg completed deep-sea training through a 
program called NEEMO 10, an underwater exercise to simulate and prepare for 
sending astronauts to the moon and eventually to Mars. Nyberg has been 
honored with numerous NASA achievement and technical awards. 



vehicles, and develop new materials that can withstand the extremes of heat and 
cold in space and during reentry. Physiologists and psychologists analyze the 
physical and mental problems associated with weightlessness, motion sickness, 
and the gravity (G) forces experienced by pilots flying at high altitudes and reen- 
tering the Earth's atmosphere. Astronomers and astrophysicists provide data on 
the distance to the moon and planets, and the composition of those planets. Physi- 
cian Irene Long became one of the highest-ranking officials at NASA in her posi- 
tion as Chief Medical Officer. Christine Darden, an engineer at NASA's Langley 
Research Center, created the computer software program used to simulate a sonic 
boom in a wind tunnel. She was also involved in redesigning aircraft to minimize 
the sonic boom because military aircraft sometimes reach supersonic speeds as 
they fly across populated areas. 

Even more women have worked for companies and universities under NASA 
contracts as mathematicians, computer scientists, physicists, nutritionists, astrono- 
mers, metallurgists, meteorologists, materials and aviation engineers, psycholo- 
gists, and medical personnel. Margaret Hamilton was part of a team at the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that designed the computer systems 
for the Apollo command module and the lunar excursion vehicle. Heidi Hammel, 
also of MIT, and Margaret Burbidge, of the University of California, San Diego, 
are among the astronomers who were involved in the design of the Hubble space 
telescope and in correcting its flawed lens several years later. Marjorie Townsend 
designed and launched astronomical and meteorological satellites, and Patricia 



Disciplines | 65 

Cowings taught the astronauts how to use biofeedback to control motion sickness. 
Devrie Intriligator, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology, analyzed 
data from the Pioneer spacecraft in orbit around the sun, and Caroline Herzenberg, 
then at the ITT Research Institute, had a grant from NASA to test Apollo lunar 
samples. 

Women have now contributed to all aspects of the American aerospace and astro- 
nautics programs. Although the relatively small number of individual astronauts are 
highly celebrated by NASA and by the public, the efforts of an extensive and diverse 
group of scientists make space travel and exploration possible. The American 
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (http://www.aiaa.org) is the primary 
professional organization for those working in this field, and women professionals 
are supported by Women in Aerospace (http://womeninaerospace.org/). 

See also Astronomy and Astrophysics; Engineering; Physics 

References 

Ackmann, Martha. 2004. The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen American Women 
and the Dream of Space Flight. New York: Random House. 

International Women's Air and Space Museum, http://www.iwasm.org/. 

Kevles, Bettyann H. 2003. Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space. New York: 
Basic Books. 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "First Lady Astronaut Trainees: 
Lovelace's Woman in Space Program." NASA History Division, http://history.nasa 
.gov/flats.html. 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "Women in Space." NASA History 
Division, http://history.nasa.gov/women.html. 

Nolen, Stephanie. 2002. Promised the Moon: The Untold Story of the First Women in the 
Space Race. New York: Avalon. 



Animal Sciences 

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has a combined section for Animal, 
Nutritional, and Microbial Sciences. Although this categorization includes diverse 
fields of inquiry across several research interests, animal sciences as a separate field 
is usually defined by most college programs as encompassing research on livestock 
production, disease, and nutrition, which may require interdisciplinary training in 
agriculture, biology, chemistry, biochemistry, or zoology. Animal sciences may 
also include veterinary science, which itself is broken down by focus on small 
animal, large animal, or the subspecialty of equine or horse care. The broad field 



66 | American Women of Science since 1900 

of animal sciences is often the precursor, or undergraduate major, for entrance 
into veterinary school, for which women now make up the majority of students. 
By 2002, as many as 80% of new doctors of veterinary medicine were women. 
This is an almost complete reversal from 40 years ago, when only 5% of veteri- 
nary students were women. As in many scientific fields, however, the percent- 
ages reflect not only an increase in the actual numbers of women, but the 
lower numbers of men in the field, as the number of male veterinarians is down 
15% since 1991 (Zhao 2002). Nationwide, women were a slight majority in the 
broader field of agricultural sciences, earning 51.5% of all bachelor's degrees 
awarded in 2006 (NSF Table C-14). This makes animal and veterinary sciences 
unique among the sciences, as women are underrepresented in nearly every 
other field, significantly so in fields such as engineering, physics, or math. As 
all advanced or doctoral-level work requires several years of rigorous science 
education, regardless of the field of study, this unprecedented gender shift could 
be explained, at least in part, by the flexibility associated with private veterinary 
practice (as opposed to a faculty research position) and the association of animal 
care (and small-animal care, in particular) as a "helping" profession (like human 
medicine or psychology), which may disproportionately appeal to more women 
than men (Maines 2007). 

Of course, not all animal-science majors go on to veterinary or agricultural 
careers, as many scientists work on issues related to other nonlivestock or nondo- 
mesticated animals in diverse fields of biology, chemistry, entomology, environ- 
mental sciences, genetics, marine sciences, microbiology, nutrition, pathology, 
primatology, toxicology, or zoology, among others. Also, many students of agri- 
cultural sciences (an even broader field that might encompass animal sciences) 
are not working on issues related to animals at all, but on food crop production 
or irrigation, among other issues. 

In 1900, more than two-thirds of the U.S. population lived rurally, a situation 
reversed by 2000, when more than 80% of the population lived in urban areas 
(U.S. Census 2006). As the nation's population spread further and further westward, 
different areas of the country became focused on food production to feed the entire 
nation. New technological developments were needed not only for larger-scale, 
nonsubsistence agriculture in the Midwest and West, but for transportation and 
processing of livestock and related products. In the late nineteenth century, agricul- 
ture became not only highly commercialized, but regulated by the government as 
well. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was founded in 1862, the same 
year the Morrill Act spurred the establishment of the land-grant colleges in these 
new regions to teach "agriculture and the mechanic arts." Women were admitted 
to these public colleges in ever- increasing numbers, especially after 1 890, and were 
educated for professional careers in the livestock, dairy, and poultry industries. 



Disciplines | 67 




In the early twentieth century, the 
USDA became one of the largest 
employers of women scientists, 
researchers, and assistants. 

Women have a long history of far- 
ming and animal care, and women's 
work in poultry and livestock produc- 
tion, care, and processing was essential 
to household income in the United 
States through the early twentieth 
century. This work led to numerous 
inventions and technological innova- 
tions by women related to farming 
and commercial agriculture. Some 
areas of animal sciences in which 
women have had particularly visible 
roles include creating new breeds and 
varieties of livestock. Melinda Boice, 
for example, was part of a University 
of Pennsylvania research team that 
produced the first calf by in vitro fer- 
tilization, a 198 1 breakthrough that was important for increasing production capabil- 
ities of farms (Stanley 1995, 44). Perhaps one of the most famous female animal 
scientists is Temple Grandin, whose work on animal behavior has had enormous 
implications not only for establishing humane treatment and slaughter standards for 
livestock, but for understanding human behavior as well. Another animal scientist 
whose work has implications for human health is microbiologist Linda Saif, whose 
work on animal viruses helped government and healthcare providers plan a vaccine 
response to the global SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in 
2002-2003. 

Professional organizations for animal scientists include the American Society of 
Animal Science (http://www.asas.org) and the Association for Women Veterinar- 
ians (http://www.womenveterinarians.org/), which began as the Women's Veteri- 
nary Association in 1947, when there were only about 100 professional female 
veterinarians in the United States. As women's numbers in the field have grown, 
the AWV has taken on a broader range of advocacy issues related to women in the 
profession, such as scholarships and mentoring for female students, pay inequity, 
and maternity leave and other work/life issues. 

See also Biochemistry; Environmental Sciences and Ecology; Genetics; 
Nutrition; Zoology 



Temple Grandin attends a screening of 
HBO's 'Temple Grandin' at the Time Warner 
screening room, 2010. (AP/Wide World 
Photos) 



68 | American Women of Science since 1900 

References 

Casey, T. M. and K. Plaut. 2003. "Women and Minorities in Animal Science: Do Issues 
Exist?" Journal of Dairy Science. 86:E35 E46. http://jds.fass.org/cgi/content/full/86/ 
13 suppl/E35. 

Drum, Sue and H. Ellen Whiteley. 1991. Women in Veterinary Medicine: Profiles of 
Success. Ames: Iowa State University Press. 

Gage, Loretta and Nancy Gage. 1994. If Wishes Were Horses: The Education of a Veteri- 
narian. New York: St. Martin's. 

Maines, Rachel. 2007. "Why Are Women Crowding into Schools of Veterinary Medicine 
but Are Not Lining Up to Become Engineers?" Cornell Perspectives. (12 June 2007). 
Cornell University. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/June07/women.vets.vs 
.eng.sl.html. 

National Science Foundation. 2006. "Table C-14. Bachelor's degrees, by race/ethnicity, 
citizenship, sex, and field: 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in 
Science and Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources 
Statistics, special tabulations of U.S. Department of Education, National Center for 
Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Completions 
Survey, 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabc-14.pdf. 

Stanley, Autumn. 1995. Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History 
of Technology. 2nd edition. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 

U.S. Census. 2006. "U.S. Population: Urban and Rural Comparison, 1900 2006. Chang- 
ing America: U.S. Population Growth." The Boston Globe. (7 October 2006). http:// 
www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/10/08/us growth/. 

Zhao, Yilu. 2002. "Women Soon to Be Majority of Veterinarians." New York Times. 
(9 June 2002). http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/09/us/women-soon-to-be-majority 
-of-veterinarians.html?fta=y. 



Anthropology and Archaeology 

Anthropology is the study of human cultures, past and present, and combines 
the methods and questions of the natural sciences with the humanities and social 
sciences. Anthropologists study human behavior, customs, physical characteris- 
tics, and environments, and their work overlaps significantly with research in 
fields such as primatology, evolutionary biology, and psychology. Subfields or 
specialties include biological anthropology, physical anthropology, cultural 
anthropology, anthropological linguistics, and archaeology, the science of recover- 
ing the human material and physical past. The National Academy of Sciences 
(NAS) includes anthropology and archaeology under its Behavioral and Social 
Sciences section, but only a small number of anthropologists or archaeologists 



Disciplines | 69 




have been elected to the NAS. Through 
2008, there were only 66 NAS mem- 
bers in anthropology, 15 of whom were 
women. This is most likely a result of 
the lesser position of the social sci- 
ences in the NAS, however, and not a 
reflection of the number of profes- 
sionals working in these fields at large. 

As with natural history, botany, 
paleontology, or other field-study sci- 
ences, many women in the nineteenth 
and early twentieth centuries pursued 
anthropological and archaeological 
studies as amateurs Beginning in the 
nineteenth century, however, the U.S. 
government became involved in ethno- 
graphic studies of Native Americans, 
recording valuable knowledge and 
collecting artifacts from groups who 
faced cultural extinction due to the 
policy of expansion. The Bureau of 
Indian Affairs was established in 

1824, the Smithsonian Institution in 1855, and the American Museum of Natural 
History in 1869. At the turn of the twentieth century, many women writers and 
photographers went into the field as ethnographers to record (and often advocate 
for) Native American life. Alice Fletcher, who studied archaeology at Harvard and 
later lived among the Ohama Plains Indians, was among this generation. University 
departments soon replaced the amateur explorations and field studies of the earlier 
generation with professional museum development and management. 

Franz Boas, Columbia University professor and creator of the first Ph.D. pro- 
gram in anthropology, was trained in physics and established empirical methods 
for anthropology that replaced the earlier evolutionary perspective of human cul- 
tures along a hierarchical scale of "civilization." Some of the most prominent early 
professional women anthropologists worked with Boas, including Ruth Benedict, 
Margaret Mead, and Elsie Clews Parsons, who trained in sociology at Columbia 
but never held a university position. Parsons helped establish the Journal of 
American Folklore and was the first female president of the American Anthropo- 
logical Association in 1941. Mead was later the first female president of the 
Society for Applied Anthropology. Women anthropologists of this generation 
began to pay attention to women as research subjects and argued for a cultural, 



Anthropologist and folklorist, Ruth Fulton 
Benedict. (Bettmann/Corbis) 



70 | American Women of Science since 1900 

rather than biological, basis for human behavior. Mead, in particular, reached a 
nonacademic audience and expanded interest in the work of anthropologists with 
her controversial works on sexuality and sex roles. 

In the 1970s and 1980s, a new generation of feminist anthropologists intro- 
duced new theories and methods to the field. Feminist anthropologists, such as 
Eleanor Leacock, who earned her Ph.D. from Columbia in 1952, as well as a 
new generation of archaeologists and primatologists, questioned methods that 
assumed gendered hierarchies were natural. Anthropology was revolutionized by 
the new women's liberation movement of the early 1970s, which provided a theo- 
retical basis for questioning the "naturalness" of patriarchy around the world. 
Marxist feminists rejected the belief that women were unproductive or dependent 
members of society, showing that man-the-hunter had turned into modern man- 
the-wage-earner, but that women's reproductive work and household contributions 
had been ignored by anthropologists and historians. Since the 1980s, queer theory 
has raised questions about the nature of gender identity and sexual orientation, 
further challenging the idea of a unified definition or experience of "woman" 
(or "man") across cultures and time. 

Although the primary image of the anthropologist is one of the fieldworker, as 
social scientists, they may also work in a variety of university, government, and 
private institutions as qualitative analysts and policy consultants. Current anthro- 
pologists look at culturally specific beliefs surrounding women's roles and a 
range of issues such as menstruation, childbirth, motherhood, women's educa- 
tion and wage-earning, female circumcision, sexuality, women's experiences of 
poverty and development, and women's roles and family life within specific 
communities, such as in the work of Johnnetta Cole or Niara Sudarkasa 
among Africans and African Americans, or Beatrice Medicine's work among 
Native Americans. This work is supported professionally by subgroups within 
the American Association of Anthropology (AAA) such as the Association for 
Feminist Anthropology (http://www.aaanet.org/sections/afa/), Committee on the 
Status of Women in Anthropology (http://www.aaanet.org/cmtes/coswa/ 
index.cfm), and Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists (http://www.uvm 
.edu/~dlrh/solga/). 

Feminist archaeologists seek to recover women's material past for insight into 
women's roles and contributions. They recover artifacts, buildings, and even 
physical bodies (such as skeletons or hair for analyzing DNA) for clues about 
gender, class, and religious belief. Supporting the work of anthropologists and 
historians, archaeologists can provide the material evidence for understanding 
women's economic contributions and the gendered divisions of labor through 
analysis of tools and other household items. Feminist archaeologists have also 
been interested in recovering an alternate female past, challenging the history of 



Disciplines | 71 

patriarchy itself through analysis of material items related to matriarchal and 
goddess societies, such as religious and fertility figures. 

The late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century era of exploration, coloniza- 
tion, missionary work, and world travel opened up interest in exotic peoples and 
cultures, past and present, giving new methods and purpose to archaeological expe- 
ditions, which were now funded and organized by governments, universities, and 
museums. There were almost no professional women archaeologists before 1915. 
There were not only limitations of training and access to university positions 
(a problem for women in all fields of science), but women in this pioneer genera- 
tion of archaeologists also often had to deal with prejudices and obstacles from 
the communities and regions in which they studied; it was often seen as unsuitable 
for women to interact with local men, to dress in Western attire, or to take on lead- 
ership roles in organizing local male field workers, for example. 

Some women pursued the work as amateurs, self-funded, or were married to 
male archaeologists and accompanied them on research expeditions. Women also 
had to struggle against a particular view of the archaeologist as a fearless male 
adventurer, the "Indiana Jones" type. Women were seen as particularly unsuited 
to scientific pursuits that involved field work (not only archaeology, but also 
geography, geology, or zoology, for example), which required not only time 
spent in the field among male colleagues, but time spent away from the home 
and families, literally digging in the dirt. This view of archeological work as 
men's work was long-lasting; as late as 1981, Harvard University explained the 
lack of women in its archaeology department by declaring that "women as a 
group are not attracted to the discipline," even though women at that time were 
receiving one-third of all doctorates in anthropology and archaeology (Irwin- 
Williams 1990, 3). 

By the 1930s, archaeology was established as an academic discipline, but 
few women stood out in the field, especially in the United States. Some of most 
prominent American women were working as part of husband-wife teams during 
these years (Ann Morris or Elizabeth Campbell), while others worked alone 
(Florence Hawley Ellis or Frederica De Laguna, who served as president of 
the American Anthropological Association in 1967). Prominent women of the 
next generation included Marjorie Ferguson Lambert, Dorothy Hughes Popenoe, 
and Hannah Marie Wormington, who in 1968 was the first woman president of 
the Society of American Archaeology. Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, feminist 
archaeologists, like anthropologists, made interventions into the nature-versus- 
nurture debate, and some have built careers amassing significant artifact collec- 
tions, such as Joyce Marcus's collection on Latin America at the University of 
Michigan Museum of Anthropology. The work of professional women archaeolo- 
gists is supported by groups such as the Society for American Archaeology 



72 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Lucy Changes History 

A 3.2 million year old woman made an important contribution to science in the 
twentieth century. "Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis) is the name given to a par- 
tial skeleton found in Ethiopia in 1 974 and, at that time, the earliest bipedal (walk- 
ing on two legs) hominid specimen, a link between modern humans and the great 
apes. Lucy was discovered by a team that included American anthropologist and 
museum curator Donald Johanson. She is only three and a half feet tall and 
resembled a chimpanzee, but her leg and pelvic bones confirmed her ancestry 
to modern humans and her small skull confirmed the evolutionary fact that 
humans walked upright before their brains developed to a larger size. In 1994 an 
even older hominid skeleton was found, pushing the date of bipedalism back to 
4.4 million years ago. Lucy's skeleton is preserved at the National Museum of 
Ethiopa, although a reconstructed replica is available for display and research in 
the United States, at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. 



Women's Interest Group (http://www.saa.org/ForMembers/InterestGroups/ 
WomeninArchaeologyInterestGroup/tabid/158/Default.aspx). Some of the most 
significant work on feminist theory and feminist archaeology has been done, how- 
ever, by scholars and archaeologists from Britain, Canada, and Australia, as the 
research is often international in scope and not specific to one country. 
See also Paleontology; Primatology 

References 

Bernardin, Susan. 2003. Trading Gazes: Euro-American Women Photographers and 
Native North Americans, 1880 1940. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 

Claassen, Cheryl, ed. 1994. Women in Archaeology. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsyl- 
vania Press. 

Irwin- Williams, Cynthia. 1990. "Women in the Field: The Role of Women in Archaeology 
before 1960." In Women of Science: Righting the Record, edited by G. Kass-Simon and 
Patricia Fames, 1 40. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

Cohen, Getzel M. and Martha Sharp Joukowsky, eds. 2004. Breaking Ground: Pioneering 
Women Archaeologists. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 

Lavender, Catherine J. 2006. Scientists and Storytellers: Feminist Anthropologists and the 
Construction of the American Southwest. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico 
Press. 

White, Nancy Marie, Lynne P. Sullivan, and Rochelle A. Marrinan, eds. 1999. Grit- 
Tempered: Early Women Archaeologists in the Southeastern United States. Gainesville: 
University Press of Florida. 



Disciplines | 73 



Astronomy and Astrophysics 



Astronomy is the study of the entire universe outside of the Earth's immediate 
atmosphere and may include astrometry (charting the positions and movements 
of stars or planets) and astrophysics. Astrophysics includes the study of the physi- 
cal properties of stars, planets, and galaxies (temperature, light, chemical makeup) 
as well as theoretical astrophysics, nuclear physics, quantum physics, and cosmol- 
ogy. Astrophysics may therefore be studied under astronomy or physics programs 
in colleges and universities. With the availability of modern telescope equipment, 
observational astronomy is also one of the few branches of science that still main- 
tains a thriving worldwide amateur community. Indeed, the International Astro- 
nomical Union (IAU) declared 2009 (the 400-year anniversary of Galileo's 
discoveries) the International Year of Astronomy to encourage citizens of all ages 
to explore the skies and the universe. 

Observational astronomy has a long history, as humans have always been 
curious about activities in the skies. The observation of other planets, stars, and 
the sun and moon have had important influences on human culture, from religious 
beliefs to agricultural calendars to scientific revolutions, all of which preceded 
modern scientific methods and understandings of the workings of the universe. 
There were significant early efforts at mapping the skies, and some important astro- 
nomical discoveries and tools developed in the pre-modern era, such as the cyclical 
nature of eclipses, the size and distance of the moon, and the discovery of galaxies. 
The early cataloging of stars, as well as accounts of eclipses and other astronomical 
events, have proved essential records for modern astronomers studying the history 
of the universe. Modern astronomy begins with the Renaissance-era work of 
Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei, who put forth a heliocentric theory of 
the solar system — that the sun, not the Earth, is the center of the solar system. After 
the invention of the telescope, there were no major technological advances for 
astronomy until the nineteenth century, when the invention of the spectroscope 
(for measuring light) and photography made it possible to record the size and posi- 
tions of the stars more accurately. The Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of 
America (precursor to the American Astronomical Society) was founded in 1899. 
Modern astronomy's and cosmology's greatest advances have been made in the 
twentieth century, with observations and theories related to the existence of other 
galaxies, black holes and other theoretical phenomenon, and the origins, expan- 
sion, and age of the universe, including the "Big Bang" theory. 

The fourth-century Greek philosopher and mathematician Hypatia is often 
named as the first female astronomer; she published an Astronomical Canon, 
which was most likely an updated chart of the planets. German-English astrono- 
mer Caroline Herschel discovered several comets and compiled a Catalogue of 



74 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Jocelyn Bell Burnell 

British astrophysicist Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell (b. 1943) made one of the most 
important discoveries in astrophysics when she identified the first radio pulsars, 
neutron stars that emit regular pulses of radiation or energy. Her work, conducted 
while she was still a graduate student at Cambridge, was published in collabora- 
tion with her thesis advisor, Anthony Hewish, who was awarded the Nobel Prize 
in Physics in 1 974 for their findings. Bell Bunnell's exclusion from the Nobel Prize 
(which Hewish shared with another colleague, Martin Ryle) has been widely seen 
as one of the greatest oversights in the award's history. She not only discovered 
the first pulsars in 1 967, but had built the radio telescope necessary for her obser- 
vations, opening up a new era in astronomical research; hundreds of pulsars 
would be discovered in subsequent years. She completed her doctorate at 
Cambridge in 1969 and went on to hold appointments at several universities in 
the United Kingdom and United States, and has been president of the Royal 
Astronomical Society and the Institute of Physics. Although she was excluded 
from the Nobel Prize early in her career, she went on to receive numerous presti- 
gious awards, including the Albert Michelson Medal of the Franklin Institute of 
Philadelphia (1973, jointly with Hewish), the Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize of the 
American Astronomical Society (1987), and the Herschel Medal of the Royal 
Astronomical Society (1989). 



Stars in 1798. Maria Mitchell was not only one of the earliest American astrono- 
mers, she is considered the first professional female scientist in the United States. 
Mitchell gained worldwide fame for her discovery of a comet using a telescope in 
1847. She became a professor of astronomy at Vassar College, training a new gen- 
eration of women as astronomers and science teachers, and continues to inspire the 
work of women astronomers today through the Maria Mitchell Association (http:// 
w w w.mmo . org/astronomy. html) . 

Beginning in the 1870s and continuing into the early decades of the twentieth 
century, the Harvard Observatory employed dozens of young women as "com- 
puters," counting and cataloging stars from photographic prints. Although com- 
puters were paid low wages for tedious work that was considered "unskilled," 
several women made important contributions at Harvard during this era and 
became prominent astronomers in their own right, including Annie Jump 
Cannon, Antonia Maury, and Henrietta Swan Leavitt. Before 1920, women 
astronomers and catalogers did not hold doctorates, but as having a Ph.D. increas- 
ingly became a requirement for professional advancement, fewer women made 
their marks in the field. In 1925, Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin was the first woman 
to receive a doctorate in astronomy from Radcliffe College (Harvard). 



Disciplines | 75 



Hypatia 

Hypatia of Alexandria (ca. 370-415) is considered one of the first women scien- 
tists in the Western world. An accomplished mathematician, astronomer, inventor, 
and philosopher, she was murdered by the Christians then coming to power and 
seeking to limit the influence of "heretics." Hypatia was the daughter of renowned 
mathematician and astronomer Theon, and received a formal education in Athens 
and Italy. She returned to Alexandria to lecture on Plato and Aristotle and 
published in several fields, including a 13-volume work on algebra, Arithmetica. 
Her inventions included a hydrometer for measuring the gravity of liquids and an 
astrolabe for measuring the positions of the sun and stars. Her most well-known 
work is The Astronomical Canon, an updated table or chart of the stars. 

Hypatia never married, and it was said that she had "self-possession and ease of 
manner" and "not unfrequently appeared in public in presence of the magistrates [or 
of] an assembly of men." The circumstances of her death, as much as her life and 
impressive work, sealed Hypatia's fate as a representative of the persecuted intel- 
lectual woman, and she became an important figure in nineteenth- and twentieth- 
century women's rights history and in literature. Her contribution to astronomy has 
been recognized with an asteroid belt and a lunar crater named in her honor. 



Observational astronomer Sarah Lippincott specialized in identifying the 
planetlike companions, or extrasolar planets, to nearby stars. Planetary geologist 
Lucy-Ann McFadden keeps an eye on asteroids and dead comets floating near 
the Earth, and astronomers Elizabeth Roemer and Carolyn Shoemaker have also 
contributed to counting and tracking comets. As the twentieth century progressed, 
women became more involved in theoretical astronomy and astrophysics. Neta 
Bahcall, Sandra Faber, Margaret Geller, and Vera Rubin are all known for their 
research on the formation of galaxies; Rubin and Bahcall in particular are known for 
the discovery and study of areas of dark matter in the universe, which are invisible to 
the naked eye. Other physical scientists study chemical and environmental activity 
in space. Margaret Burbidge collaborated in developing a theory of the origin of 
chemical elements in the universe; Nancy Roman designed satellite observatories 
for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to explore the uni- 
verse from a vantage point that is free from atmospheric interference; and solar 
physicist Elske v.P. Smith analyzed active areas, such as flares, on the sun. 

Considered one of the physical sciences along with physics and chemistry, 
astronomy is the smallest of these disciplines, and therefore involves a small 
number of women employed as professional astronomers and astrophysicists. 
Because astronomy is not always tracked separately from physics or other depart- 
ments, it is difficult to determine specific numbers and information on women 



76 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Maria Mitchell 

Maria Mitchell (1818-1889) is considered the first American woman astronomer 
and one of the first professional women scientists. She gained international recog- 
nition after discovering a comet in 1 847 and later became professor and director of 
the Vassar College observatory. Her interest in astronomy was influenced by her 
father, who was hired by Nantucket whalers to check the accuracy of their chro- 
nometers by means of stellar observation. Maria learned to operate the sextant 
at an early age and was encouraged to continue her studies of mathematical texts 
after formal schooling ended. She opened her own school in 1835 and served as 
librarian at the new Nantucket Atheneum. In 1849, she was hired to work on an 
annual compilation of astronomical tables for mariners, and began to work for the 
U.S. Coast Survey. 

Although discouraged by the inferior facilities and laboratories made available 
to women, at Vassar, she was committed to science education, training a genera- 
tion of young women in observational work and experimentation that became a 
model at other women's colleges. She was a founder of the Association for the 
Advancement of Women and was elected the first woman member of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1848 and of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science in 1850. Mitchell received several honorary degrees 
for her astronomical work, and a crater on the moon was named for her. 



working in the field. Although the East Coast women's colleges developed strong 
astronomy programs for undergraduates, there were few women holding Ph.D.s in 
astronomy through the first half of the twentieth century. One source reports that 
between 1923 and 1930, women earned 25% of doctorates in astronomy, but that 
amounted to only 15 individuals, as it was a small field overall. By the 1950s 
and 1960s, that number dropped to only 10% of doctorates awarded to women 
(Mack 1990). The American Astronomical Society Committee on the Status of 
Women in Astronomy conducted a 2003 survey of 40 major research universities 
and found only 41 women as full professors, compared to 424 male full professors 
at those same institutions. When all tenure-track ranks are included (assistants, 
associates, and full professors), there were only 80 female tenure-track faculty 
spread among 40 universities, compared to 585 male faculty. Several of these uni- 
versities, even those with large numbers of astronomy faculty overall, reported 
having only one or two women on the faculty, at any rank (AAS 2003). These 
numbers are particularly troublesome given that those institutions reported a total 
of 269 female graduate students enrolled in 2003-2004, and that, in 2003, women 
earned 46% of all undergraduate degrees in astronomy and 26% of all doctorates 
(AIP 2005). 



Disciplines | 77 



The scientists themselves have 
been active voices for addressing the 
problems facing women in astronomy 
and physics. The American Astro- 
nomical Society's Committee on the 
Status of Women in Astronomy pro- 
vides guidelines and recommenda- 
tions for institutions and publishes a 
newsletter, STATUS, on women in 
astronomy and the sciences. In 2005, 
the AAS endorsed the Pasadena 
Recommendations for Gender 
Equality in Astronomy, drafted by 
the Committee on the Status of 
Women in Astronomy. The Com- 
mittee makes recommendations on 
institutional policy related to tenure, 
career advancement, and other work- 
place issues. 

See also Physics 




Astronomer and geophysicist, Lucy-Ann 
McFadden. (Courtesy of Mike Morgan, Uni- 
versity Publications, University of Maryland) 



References 

American Astronomical Society (AAS). 2003. "2003 CSWA Survey Data." Committee on 
the Status of Women in Astronomy, http://www.grammai.org/astrowomen/stats/ 
2003data.htm. 

American Institute of Physics (AIP). 2005. "Women in Physics and Astronomy, 2005." 
http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/highlite/women05/women05.htm. 

Lankford, lohn and Ricky L. Slavings. 1997. American Astronomy: Community, Careers, 
and Power, 1859 1940. University of Chicago Press. 

Mack, Pamela A. 1990. "Straying from Their Orbits: Women in Astronomy in America." 
in Women of Science: Righting the Record, edited by G. Kass-Simon and Patricia 
Fames, 72 116. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 



Biochemistry 

Biochemistry is the study of chemical substances and processes such as metabo- 
lism, the functions of enzymes, proteins, carbohydrates, and other molecular and 
cellular activities in living organisms. It includes biomedical research specialties 



78 | American Women of Science since 1900 

such as pharmacology, endocrinology, immunology, genetics, oncology, physiol- 
ogy, cytology, and toxicology. Biochemistry also has applications in plant and 
agricultural sciences, food and nutrition, earth and space sciences, and crystallog- 
raphy or physics. Although early scientists explored biochemical processes of the 
body, and of plants and foods, their work would have been considered part of 
general biological studies, organic chemistry, or what was termed "physiological 
chemistry." The term "biochemistry" was not used until the turn of the twentieth 
century. The Journal of Biological Chemistry was founded in 1905 and an American 
Society of Biological Chemists (now the American Society for Biochemistry and 
Molecular Biology, or ASBMB, http://www.asbmb.org) established in 1906. By 
the mid-twentieth century, the discovery of DNA brought new research interest 
to the cell and to genetics, with rapid advances in microbiological and biochemical 
research in the hopes of finding cures for diseases such as cancer. Biochemistry is 
still often considered a subfield of chemistry or biology, and not all colleges and 
universities have a separate program in biochemistry. Thus, biochemists may 
receive their degrees and training within a variety of other fields and contexts, so 
that not all those involved in biochemical research may be identified primarily as 
biochemists. 

Because of the broad definition of the field, which overlaps with numerous 
pursuits in the biological and chemical sciences, women have had a strong pres- 
ence in the history of biochemistry. When the ASBMB was founded in 1906, it 
had one female member, a Canadian chemist and food scientist named Clara 
Benson. Biochemistry was not always tracked as a separate discipline until the 
mid-twentieth century, and many more women were trained or affiliated with 
university departments of chemistry (or physiological chemistry in the earlier 
decades) or general biology. By 1941, however, biochemistry was listed as the 
most popular subfield for women members of the American Chemical Society. 
According to one of the earliest breakdowns of biochemistry as a separate sub- 
discipline, women held close to 12% of Ph.D.s in biochemistry in 1938, and that 
number remained the same through 1960 (Rossiter 1982, 157; Rossiter 1995, 81). 
The greatest number of biochemistry Ph.D.s awarded to women before 1940 
were from programs at the University of Chicago and Columbia University in 
New York; several women graduated from the program in microbiology at Johns 
Hopkins University as well (Rossiter 1982, 184). 

The early twentieth-century generation of women biochemists were most likely 
to be employed in research laboratories or college departments related to food and 
nutrition, agriculture, and public health, and were involved in the development 
of key technologies and discoveries in these fields. Their male counterparts 
were more likely to be employed in medical schools and research universities, 
while women faculty were more likely to teach at liberal arts colleges (including 



Disciplines | 79 




the women's colleges) or to hold 
positions as lecturers (nontenured 
faculty) or laboratory research assist- 
ants. It was also not uncommon for 
even prominent female researchers 
to have to wait to be appointed to full 
professor only at the very end of their 
careers, just before retirement. This 
was true for some of the most impor- 
tant female biochemists of the early 
twentieth century, such as Florence 
Seibert, who developed the much- 
acclaimed skin test for tuberculosis 
during the 1930s, but was not 
appointed a full professor at the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania until 1955, just 
before her retirement, and to Gerty 
Cori, who did not attain the rank of 
full professor at Washington Univer- 
sity until after winning the Nobel Prize 
in 1947. While women were earning 
12% of doctorates in biochemistry, as 
late as 1960 they still made up less 

than 5% of biochemistry faculty at the top 20 universities; the percentage of female 
full professors was under 2% (Rossiter 1995, 129). After 1970, however, women 
made great strides in this field, and by 2003, women were earning 40% to 45% of 
higher degrees in biochemistry and molecular biology (Wolfson 2006). 

American scientist Mildred Cohn was elected the ASBMB's first female 
president in 1978. The three most recent presidents (between 2002 and 2008) have 
all been women, and overall the society has had nine female presidents in its now 
more than 100-year history (besides Cohn, these are: Mary Jane Osborn, Mary 
Ellen Jones, Elizabeth Neufeld, Susan Taylor, Judith Klinman, Betty Sue Siler 
Masters, Judith Bond, and Heidi Hamm). An unusual number of women scientists 
working in biochemistry-related research have been recipients of the Nobel Prize 
in Physiology or Medicine: Gerty Cori, who with Carl Cori elucidated how glyco- 
gen is metabolized in the body (1947); Gertrude Elion, who with George Hitchings 
developed the first nucleotide-derived anticancer, antiviral drugs (1988); and 
Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider, who shared the prize with Jack Szotack 
for their collective research on telosomeres, providing a new direction in cancer 
research (2009). The discovery of the gene and of DNA were important 



Biochemist Gerty Cori was co-recipient (with 
her husband, Carl F. Cori) of the Nobel Prize in 
Physiology or Medicine in 1947. (National 
Library of Medicine) 



80 | American Women of Science since 1900 

breakthroughs in the history of biochemistry and molecular biology. British scien- 
tist Rosalind Franklin was central to this research in the 1950s and collaborated 
with James Watson and Francis Crick, who went on to receive the Nobel Prize 
for that work. Maxine Singer had a central role in articulating standards for work 
with recombinant DNA. Nobel Prize winners biomedical physicist Rosalyn Yalow 
(1977) and geneticist Barbara McClintock (1983) also conducted work in fields 
that included biochemical studies. 

Other prominent women biochemists of the twentieth century have included 
Icie Macy-Hoobler, who established Recommended Dietary Allowances 
(RDA) for several vitamins and contributed to the understanding of dietary needs 
of pregnant women, infants, and children, and nutritionist Gladys Emerson, who 
also researched vitamins and helped isolate vitamin E while working at the 
University of California, Berkeley in the late 1930s. Other biochemists have 
worked in areas of protein research and disease treatment. Rachel Brown and 
Elizabeth Hazen developed the first antifungal drug, nystatin; Mary Petermann 
discovered animal ribosomes, a key to understanding protein synthesis in cells; 
Birgit Vennesland studied carbohydrate metabolism; Lydia Villa-Komaroff 
has researched the role of insulin and other growth factors in brain development; 
and Sarah Ratner also researched protein metabolism and amino acids, and 
developed a test for identifying the presence of argininosuccinic acid, an indica- 
tion of a metabolic imbalance that can cause neurological damage. Neurophysi- 
ologist Candace Pert co-discovered the brain's opiate receptors, which receive 
chemicals (natural or synthetic) to relieve pain, and co-founded a pharmaceuti- 
cals research company to develop a vaccine for the virus that causes HIV/AIDS. 
Biochemists also conduct research that informs agricultural and environmental 
science, such as Mary-Dell Chilton, a researcher in plant biotechnology and 
the genetic engineering of agricultural crops to make them resistant to pests 
and environmental distress, and Audrey Haschemeyer, whose research on fish 
in Antarctica helps us understand how temperature changes affect some of the 
biochemical processes in humans. 

See also Biology; Biomedical Sciences; Chemistry; Genetics 

References 

Kohler, Robert. 1982. From Medical Chemistry to Biochemistry: The Making of a Bio- 
medical Discipline. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 

Rossiter, Margaret. 1982. Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940. 
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1995. Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 
1940 1972. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University. 



Disciplines | 81 

Spanier, Bonnie. 1995. Im/partial Science: Gender Ideology in Molecular Biology. 
Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

Wolfson, Adele J. 2006. "One Hundred Years of American Women in Biochemistry." 
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education. 34(2): 75 77. (3 November 2006). 
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/113449037/HTMLSTART. 



Biology 

Biology is the study of life and all living systems, human, animal (zoology), or plant 
(botany). As the science of the structure, function, development, and evolution of all 
living organisms, biology is the foundation for, and has applications across, many 
different scientific disciplines. High-profile subfields of biology include biochemis- 
try, cellular biology, genetics, and molecular biology, but biologists also work in a 
variety of specialized subfields: evolutionary biology, biophysics, bioengineering, 
pharmacology, toxicology, environmental biology and ecology, marine biology, 
and animal sciences (agricultural and veterinary). 

Unlike many other disciplines, biology has always had to confront and consider 
the importance of sex and gender, in the context of the human body as well as in 
animal and plant life. In the early days of biology as a field of study, scientific 
knowledge reinforced stereotypical views of male and female social roles. 
Anatomy, the scientific study of the internal and external structure of the body, 
was a foundational part of biological and medical sciences, but was subject to 
social interpretation and therefore "biological determinism" — that is, the attribu- 
tion of certain human behaviors to biological or "natural" factors. Biological deter- 
minism means that biology has provided a scientific basis for eugenics, racial 
hierarchies, the sexual division of labor, limiting women's education, and the 
inferior legal and employment status of women and racial minorities. While we 
no longer accept earlier theories about women's bodies making them incapable of 
working in scientific or other professions, in the twenty-first century, biology is still 
a foundational science that informs social policy and attitudes; for example, 
assumptions about women's bodies still influence medical research and therefore 
have implications for women's health and healthcare. 

By the 1970s and 1980s, feminists began to critique science and scientific lan- 
guage, revealing the gender bias inherent in supposedly objective scientific knowl- 
edge. The very foundations of early biology and botany, for example, depended 
upon classifications made by Carl Linnaeus, who classified "male parts" as classes 
and "female parts" as orders, thus establishing a gendered hierarchy into his very 
classification system, for no specific or legitimate scientific reason. Interestingly, it 
was also Linnaeus who introduced the term "Mammalia" into biological studies to 



82 | American Women of Science since 1900 




define a class of humans and other 
animals, emphasizing the role of 
breast-milk and lactation over a num- 
ber of alternative characteristics, such 
as the presence of hair or live births, 
rather than a characteristic which 
applies only to the females of the 
class. Historian of science Londa 
Schiebinger has pointed out that 
Linnaeus made this choice about 
zoological terminology in the midst 
of an eighteenth-century social con- 
troversy over breast-feeding and wet- 
nursing, and thus his science was 
influenced by his own conservative 
views of women's true "nature" being 
found in motherhood (Schiebinger 
1999, 153-154). 

Cultural anthropologist Emily 
Martin has also analyzed the lan- 
guage of science in earlier cell biol- 
ogy textbooks, which spoke of "the 
active sperm" and "the passive egg," 
with reproduction presented as a reenactment of human dating rituals rather than 
an accurate description of the biological process (Martin 1991). Although Martin's 
critique received quite a bit of publicity, and some scientists responded with new 
assessments of the "partnership" between sperm and egg, or the more "active" role 
of the egg, other analysts pointed out the flawed language in considering eggs to be 
"female" and sperm to be "male" in the first place. The fields of genetics and bot- 
any have also had to confront and reconsider the language and metaphors of 
human gender, sexuality, or marriage as terms and processes used to describe the 
parts and functions of plants, bacteria, or even DNA (Dudle 2006). Embryologist 
Anne Fausto-Sterling has critiqued scientific discussions of the sex chromosomes 
(XX for female or XY for male) that refer to the female sex as "lacking" a Y 
chromosome (or the female embryo as having an "absence" of testosterone), rather 
than of male chromosomal pairs as "lacking" a second X chromosome (Fausto- 
Sterling 1992, 77-85). It would be equally problematic to see the female embryo 
as the standard, or default, and the male as an aberration, but the point is to high- 
light the social and cultural assumptions that influence scientific perspective and 
inquiry, and thus scientific results. 



Embryologist, Anne Fausto-Sterling. 
(Courtesy of Brown University) 



Disciplines | 83 



Elizabeth Agassiz 

Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz (1822-1907) was a naturalist who served as the 
first president of Radcliffe College between 1 894 and 1 903. Although she had little 
formal education, she developed an interest in natural history and assisted in 
recording the scientific research of her husband, famed Harvard zoologist and 
geologist Louis Agassiz. In 1865, she accompanied her husband on the Thayer 
expedition to Brazil to study the fauna, and in 1871, she went on a deep-sea 
dredging venture, the Hassler Expedition, along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts 
of the Americas. Her notes on Louis Agassiz's lectures, along with her own notes 
and observations, were published as A Journey in Brazil (1868). She assisted her 
husband in the planning and management of the co-educational Anderson School 
of Natural History, which was both a summer school for teacher education and a 
marine laboratory. 

Elizabeth Agassiz also published Actae, A First Lesson in Natural History 
(1859) and, in collaboration with her stepson Alexander, Seaside Studies in 
Natural History (1 866). After her husband died in 1 873, she compiled a biography, 
Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence (1886). She ran a school for girls in 
her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for many years and in 1 879 helped found 
a Harvard annex for women which became Radcliffe College in 1 893, with Elizabeth 
Agassiz as its first president. 



Throughout the nineteenth century, biology was more often referred to or 
encompassed within "natural history," which included human as well as animal 
biology or zoology. Significant numbers of American women have thus been rep- 
resented in the field since the mid-nineteenth century, and in the twentieth century, 
biology has become second only to psychology in the numbers of bachelor's 
degrees awarded to women; biological or life sciences is the single most popular 
choice for female students in the natural sciences. One explanation given for 
why so many women scientists choose biology is that women are drawn in greater 
numbers to the "helping" professions, which includes many specialties within 
medicine or biomedical research. Within the broad category of biology, however, 
women and men receive an almost equal number of doctorates; according to the 
National Science Foundation, in 2006, there were 3,262 Ph.D.s in biological sci- 
ences awarded to women, compared to 3,359 awarded to men (NSF Table F-l; 
NSF Table F-2). 

Perhaps because biology is such a broad category, and researchers are more 
likely to identify according to subfield or specialty, the work of individual women 
biologists is difficult to extract from the history. Biological research can best be 
organized around different research objectives. Cellular and molecular biologists 



84 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Christiane Nusslein-Volhard 

Christiane Nusslein-Volhard (b. 1942) is a German developmental biologist who 
received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995 for her work in genet- 
ics of the Drosophila, or common fruit fly; she shared the prize with American col- 
leagues Eric Wieschaus and Edward B. Lewis. Originally interested in attending 
medical school, a brief stint as a hospital nurse convinced Nusslein-Volhard to 
pursue biological research instead. She received her doctorate in genetics from 
the University of Tubingen in 1973 and began work on fruit flies, discovering that 
many aspects of their genetics were similar to, and had implications for research 
on, other species, including humans. Her research on cellular and embryonic 
development has been extended to the study of vertebrates, such as the zebra- 
fish. She has been the Director at the Max Planck Institute of Developmental 
Biology since 1 985. Before being recognized for the Nobel Prize in 1 995, she 
was the recipient of numerous other prestigious awards and honors, including 
the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award, and foreign membership in both the 
British Royal Society and the U.S. National Academy of Science. Taking her role 
as a mentor seriously, in 2004, she founded the CNV Foundation to support 
German women scientists combining work and family. 



have contributed to cancer and disease research. Beatrice Mintz received her doc- 
torate in zoology in 1946 and was one of the earliest researchers on mammalian 
genetics and skin cancer; and molecular biologists Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol 
Greider received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for their 
discovery in the 1980s of the enzyme telomerase and its effect on chromosomes, 
establishing a new direction in cancer research. Bacteriologists and biochemists have 
contributed to our understanding of other diseases and to the development of phar- 
maceuticals and nutrition guidelines. Lydia Villa-Komaroff ' s research led to the 
development of a specific type of insulin used by diabetics; Mary Bunting was a 
microbiologist trained in agricultural bacteriology, as was Alice Evans, one of 
the earliest women microbiologists (receiving her master's degree in 1910), whose 
research for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on bacteria in cow's milk 
led to a campaign for pasteurization of all milk; and Rachel Brown and Elizabeth 
Hazen were renowned for their discovery of an antifungal antibiotic. 

Other biologists have worked as biophysicists and bioengineers, supporting 
technological advances in aeronautics, robotics, and neuroscience. Thelma 
Estrin pioneered the use of computers in biomedical and neurophysiological 
research; Alice Stoll received her Ph.D. in 1948 and worked with the U.S. Navy 
studying the physical effects of extreme heat and other forces on the body. Some 



Disciplines | 85 

women astronauts have been trained in biophysics and medicine as well, such as 
Irene Long, who studied the effect of space flight and weightlessness on blood 
oxygen and on various health conditions. Biologists working in the fields of genet- 
ics and toxicology have studied plants and animals for important discoveries and 
insights into human health. Juanita Scott examined how water pollutants and tox- 
ins impact cell growth and development; Agnes Stroud studied chromosomes, 
birth defects, and radiation therapy; Evelyn Witkin was trained as a zoologist 
and studied the genetics of bacteria such as E. coli.; Linda Saif's work on animal 
viruses helped the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) create a response to a human 
outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). In all cases, biology is 
the general foundation of this work in a variety of research fields and inquiries. 

See also Biochemistry; Biomedical Sciences; Botany; Genetics; Medicine; 
Neuroscience; Zoology 

References 

Baker, Katharine K. 2000. "Biology for Feminists." Chicago-Kent Law Review. 75: 
805 835. http://works.bepress.com/katharine baker/9/. 

Dudle, Dana A. and Meryl Altman. 2006. "Across the Language Barrier: Gender in Plant 
Biology and Feminist Theory." In Removing Barriers: Women in Academic Science, 
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, edited by Jill M. Bystydzienski and Sharon 
R. Bird, 215 233. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

Fausto-Sterling, Anne. 1992. Myths of Gender: Biological Theories about Men and 
Women. 2nd edition. New York: Basic Books. 

Kass-Simon, G. 1990. "Biology Is Destiny." In Women of Science: Righting the Record, 
edited by G. Kass-Simon and Patricia Fames, 215 267. Bloomington: Indiana Univer- 
sity Press. 

Keller, Evelyn Fox. 1995. Refiguring Life: Metaphors of 20th-century Biology. New York: 
Columbia University. 

Martin, Emily. 1991. "The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance 
Based on Stereotypical Male Female RolesrSigns. 16(3): 485 501. (Spring 1991). 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-l. S&E doctoral degrees awarded, by field: 
1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engi- 
neering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey 
of Earned Doctorates, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabf-l.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-2. S&E doctoral degrees awarded to women, by field: 
1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineer- 
ing. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of 
Earned Doctorates, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabf-2.pdf. 

Schiebinger, Londa. 1999. Has Feminism Changed Science? Cambridge, MA: Harvard 
University Press. 



86 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Spanier, Bonnie. 1995. Im/partial Science: Gender Ideology in Molecular Biology. 
Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 



Biomedical Sciences 

Biomedical sciences is a broad category that includes research in a variety of 
disciplines directed to human medical conditions and the underlying biological func- 
tions and sources of disease, rather than the clinical treatment of patients by practic- 
ing physicians and surgeons. The Biomedical Sciences section of the National 
Academy of Sciences includes researchers in medical genetics, hematology, oncol- 
ogy, medical physiology and metabolism, immunology, and microbial biology. 

Women's roles as caregivers and healthcare providers have put them on the front- 
lines of early medical and biomedical innovations. In addition to a long 
history of women's knowledge about herbal medicines and other treatments, women 
have been central to the development of modern vaccines for a variety of diseases 
and conditions. Early Taoist nuns (from the tenth and eleventh centuries) may have 
practiced variolation for smallpox, the act of exposing healthy people to a weakened 
form of the virus in order to build immunity. In 1717, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu 
of England reported traveling to Turkey and watching "old women" hold smallpox 
"parties" and "ingrafting" the virus into the skin of healthy people; Montagu intro- 
duced the method in England a few years later (Stanley 1995, 155). In the United 
States, bacteriologists, toxicologists, and pharmacological researchers made great 
strides in modern vaccine research and development beginning in the 1920s and 
1930s. Gladys Dick and her husband greatly reduced the incidence and mortality 
rate of scarlet fever, another longtime killer, with their 1 923 discovery of the specific 
strain of streptococcus that causes the disease. Women researchers developed a skin 
test for tuberculosis (Florence Seibert), antifungal antibiotics (Elizabeth Hazen 
and Rachel Brown), and sulfa drugs (Eleanor Bliss), and developed transdermal 
drug patches for motion sickness and other applications (Jane Shaw). Marian 
Koshland researched the cholera vaccine, and Marjorie Horning researched the 
effect and transfer of drugs between pregnant women and fetuses. In 1955 Dolores 
Shockley was the first African American woman to receive a doctorate in pharma- 
cology (from Purdue University). 

Physiology is the study of the human body and is key to medical research as the 
foundation of human health and disease. Most physiological researchers work in 
subfields or specialties based on specific diseases or body systems, such as hema- 
tology (blood), endocrinology (hormones), or the respiratory system, to name a 
few examples. Many researchers have focused on the genetic causes and treat- 
ment of specific diseases. Judith Pool researched blood coagulation and isolated 



Disciplines | 87 




a method for treating hemophilia; 
Helen Ranney also focused on genet- 
ics and blood diseases, in particular 
sickle-cell anemia; Ruth Sager stud- 
ied mammalian genetics and tumor 
suppression in genes; and Cynthia 
Kenyon has focused her work on the 
aging of cells for insight into age- 
related diseases. 

Some women combine clinical 
treatment of patients with biomedical 
research, while others retired from 
practices as physicians and surgeons 
to focus on or promote research 
in a specific area. Mary Harris put 
her background as a physician and 
researcher of sickle-cell anemia to 
work as an activist promoting the health 
and wellness of African Americans; 
Maria New established a research 
foundation for pediatric endocrinol- 
ogy; and Christiane Northrup has 
been a leading practitioner and voice 
for women's health and wellness 

using traditional and alternative medicines. Many biomedical research findings 
and advances have been related to or informed cancer research, which is an entire 
subfield of biomedical research on its own, with geneticists, biochemists, cellular 
biologists, and molecular biologists leading the way. Maud Slye was one of the 
earliest cancer researchers; Susan Love is a former surgeon who created a founda- 
tion for breast cancer research and has written numerous books empowering 
women as patients; and Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider shared the 
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for their contribution to cancer 
research, which has also provided insight into the process of aging. 

Several other American women have received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or 
Medicine for work that has implications for biomedical research. Biochemist 
Gerty Cori (who won the Nobel Prize in 1947) discovered glycogen and its 
effects on carbohydrate metabolism, providing new insights into diabetes and 
other diseases; medical physicist Rosalyn Yalow (1977) pioneered in the field 
neuroendocrinology, studying the effect of hormones on health and disease; plant 
geneticist Barbara McClintock (1983) discovered how genes move from one 



Physician and women's health advocate, 
Christiane Northrup, 2007. (AP/Wide World 
Photos) 



88 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Birth-Control Pill (Oral Contraceptives) 

Although male scientists were responsible for the development of oral contracep- 
tives (or "the pill"), two women deserve credit for this medical advance that 
changed women's lives in the twentieth century and beyond. Nurse Margaret 
Sanger and philanthropist Katharine Dexter McCormick saw the need for reliable 
contraception and provided the funding for early research. Sanger, founder of the 
American Birth Control League, watched numerous women (including her own 
mother) die from the effects of uncontrolled fertility. McCormick was a suffragist 
who once smuggled diaphragms from Europe into the United States. After learning 
of preliminary research on plant-based hormones in the 1 930s, McCormick helped 
fund the work of reproductive scientists in the United States in the 1 950s. Although 
scientists in other countries were also taking up this research, at the time, there 
was still little interest in pursuing contraceptive research by either the U.S. 
government or the pharmaceutical industry. These women's rights reformers, 
however, saw the potential and the need. 

A combined hormone drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA) for menstrual disorders in 1957 and for contraceptive use 
in 1961. Controversy over the social implications of easy access to birth control 
began almost immediately. Indeed, the pill played a role in the emerging women's 
liberation movement and the rise in women's labor force participation over the 
following decades. Both Sanger and McCormick lived into the mid-1 960s and thus 
were able to see birth-control pills become available to a new generation. 



chromosome to another, providing a new direction for researchers of human 
microbiology; neurobiologist Rita Levi Montalcini (1986) discovered how rapid 
cell growth can lead to cancer and other conditions; biochemist Gertrude Elion 
(1988) made advances in research on chemotherapy for treating cancer; and biolo- 
gist Linda Buck (2004) conducts research on the sense of smell. 

Another issue within biomedical research besides women's representation and 
achievements as professional scientists is women as patients and as subjects of 
research. Women have been underrepresented in research on heart disease, certain 
types of cancer, and other conditions, and in research on drug and other treatment 
options. The widespread exclusion of female patients from medical studies up until 
at least the 1 990s has been due to a variety of factors, including lack of outreach and 
information provided to doctors and to women patients, assumptions on the part of 
researchers that some diseases (such as heart disease) impact women less often 
than men, concern about protecting women of childbearing age, the assumption 
that women's hormones will skew a general study, or simply the assumption that 
women's bodies are merely a variation on the male standard. Female doctors and 



Disciplines | 89 



Margaret Sanger 

Margaret Higgins Sanger Slee (1879-1966) was the founder of the American 
birth-control movement in the early twentieth century. She began her career as a 
public health nurse in New York City's Lower East Side, witnessing the effects of 
multiple pregnancies, self-induced abortions, and motherhood on the city's poor 
and working-class women. Sanger's own mother experienced 18 pregnancies and 
died by age 50. Sanger saw the right to limit fertility as a fundamental right, and 
she coined the term "birth control" in the pages of her newspaper, The Woman 
Rebel, founded in 1914. She sought to educate women about their own bodies 
and wrote pamphlets on "Family Limitation," menstruation, and sexuality. She 
introduced the diaphragm to American women by illegally smuggling the devices 
from Europe into the United States. Both she and her husband, William Sanger, 
were arrested for violating the Comstock Law of 1873, which made it illegal to 
distribute "obscene" materials through the mail. In 1916, Sanger opened the first 
U.S. birth-control clinic in Brooklyn. Police raided the clinic, and she spent 30 days 
in jail, forcing the issue to the courts, where a judge ruled to make it legal for 
doctors to provide family-planning information to women. 

Sanger founded the American Birth Control League in 1921 and began an 
international campaign, working with activists in Japan, Europe, and Africa. In 
1952, she became the first president of Planned Parenthood, and she and col- 
league Katharine McCormick helped fund research for an oral contraceptive pill, 
which was introduced in 1961. 



women's health advocacy groups began bringing this issue to light in the late 1970s 
and 1980s, and by the early 1990s, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) called 
for greater representation of women in national clinical trials. Still, a 2009 study 
published by the American Cancer Society analyzed more than 600 clinical studies 
on non-sex-specific cancers and found that, although the numbers of women in 
individual studies varied, on average women made up only 38.8% of the more than 
1 million enrolled patients (Jagsi et al. 2009). 

Women's very lives are at stake in this research, as women may have different 
responses to drug therapies than men have. If women are excluded from drug studies 
that inform doctors' treatment protocols, female patients may be at risk of under- 
or overdosing, adverse reactions, or missed diagnoses. For example, although heart 
disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, 
for both biological and social reasons, women are less likely to be screened, 
diagnosed, or taken to the emergency room for heart issues. Doctors and 
patients may be more likely to see heart disease as a predominantly male problem 
and so are slower to diagnose a heart attack in process in a woman. The American 



90 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Heart Association launched its "Go Red for Women" campaign to raise 
public awareness and generate funding for this important issue (http://www 
.goredforwomen.org). 

Feminist groups and women's health advocacy organizations such as the Soci- 
ety for Women's Health Research (http://www.womenshealthresearch.org) have 
been created not only to influence government and pharmaceutical research prior- 
ities, but also to reach out to women and encourage their participation in studies. 
By the early 1990s, the NIH required female subjects in all government-funded 
research proposals, and the U.S. government created an Office of Research on 
Women's Health (http://orwh.od.nih.gov/). Under the direction of Bernadine 
Healy, the first woman to head the NIH (and later president of the American Heart 
Association), the federal government also launched a multi-million-dollar Women's 
Health Initiative to research women's health issues. These efforts, along with the 
work of women biomedical researchers themselves, have expanded the notion of 
women's health beyond reproductive issues and beyond the childbearing years. 
New areas of focus include women's health internationally, especially around 
issues related to family planning, childbirth, osteoporosis, AIDS, and breast and 
other cancers that affect women (indeed, despite the important media focus on 
breast cancer, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women). 

See also Biochemistry; Biology; Genetics; Medicine; Neuroscience 

References 

Clarke, Adele E. and Virginia Olesen, eds. 1998. Revisioning Women, Health and Healing: 
Feminist, Cultural and Technoscience Perspectives. New York: Routledge. 

Jagsi, Reshma et al. 2009. "Under-representation of Women in High- Impact Published Clini- 
cal Cancer Research." Cancer. 115(14): 3293 3301. (15 July 2009). Abstract: http:// 
www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122442004/abstract?CRETRY=l&SRETRY=0. 

Moss, Kary L., ed. 1996. Man-Made Medicine: Women's Health, Public Policy, and 
Reform. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 

Stanley, Autumn. 1995. Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History 
of Technology. 2nd edition. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 

van den Wijngaard, Marianne. 1997. Reinventing the Sexes: The Biomedical Construction 
of Femininity and Masculinity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 



Botany 

Botany (sometimes called plant sciences or plant biology) is the scientific study 
of plants. Plant science includes research on a variety of living organisms, from 
the simplest bacteria, to algae, fungi, and mosses, to flowers and trees. Botany is 



Disciplines | 91 



Jane Colden 

Jane Colden (1 724-1 766) is considered the first American woman botanist and is 
credited with the discovery and naming of a species of gardenia. She was trained 
by her father, physician and naturalist Cadwallader Colden, who corresponded 
with the leading scientists of his day, including Carl Linnaeus. Although she never 
learned Latin, Jane Colden learned to take botanical impressions and to prepare 
descriptions in English. By 1757, she had prepared a catalog of over 300 local 
species of flora and had exchanged specimens and seeds with several American 
and European botanists. As her father's interests turned to other subjects, he 
planned that she would take over his botanical activities and correspondence. 
Jane Colden mastered the Linnaean classification system and published a paper 
in Essays and Observations, Physical and Literary of the Edinburgh Philosophical 
Society in 1770. Her manuscript on New York flora was later deposited in the 
British Museum, and a portion of it was published in 1963. A review of her work 
was published in the Journal of Botany in 1895. While her drawings are now con- 
sidered amateur, her descriptions are thought to be thorough and accurate. After 
she married in 1759, there is no indication that she continued her work in botany. 



divided into subfields or specialties not only according to species or kingdom, but 
by research focus or goals. Plant genetics and cytology informs the human life 
sciences with a focus on the plants at the cellular level; agronomy is the study of 
plant crops in agriculture and is concerned with crop development, plant breeding, 
staple crops, and feed for livestock; biochemical studies on plants support work in 
human nutrition and pharmaceutical development; ecological botanists study the 
interactions among plants, animals, humans, and the environment, and inform 
studies on climate change and habitat destruction; forestry involves the study and 
management of a variety of plants in the forest ecosystem; marine botany focuses 
on plant life in the oceans; paleobotany is the study of the plant fossil record; 
phytopathology is a focus on plant diseases; and horticulturists and gardeners 
appreciate the aesthetic role of cultivated plants in our lives. The study of plants, 
then, impacts human life in a variety of ways, as we rely upon plants for oxygen, 
food, medicine, clothing, materials for other products (such as rubber and wood), 
fuel, and environmental stability. 

Historians of women's contributions to technological development point out that 
horticulture, agriculture, cloth production, and medicine were seen as women's 
work throughout early human history, all of which required extensive knowledge 
of plant life. Women were responsible for gardening, breeding, selecting and 
experimenting with plants, cooking, and processing cotton, hemp, and other 



92 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Almira Phelps 

Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps (1793-1884) was a botanist whose popular textbooks 
influenced science education in the nineteenth century. Her Familiar Lectures on 
Botany (1 829) went through numerous editions and sold more than 300,000 
copies in the United States and Europe. She was committed to science education 
and to the education of women, as was her sister, Emma Willard, who founded the 
Troy Female Seminary in New York. Almira taught in various public schools and 
academies, including at Troy. She developed her own science curriculum and 
was the author of popular texts on chemistry, geology, botany, and natural phi- 
losophy. Her other works included Lectures to Young Ladies (1833), Chemistry 
for Beginners (1 834), Familiar Lectures on Natural Philosophy (1837), and Botany 
for Beginners (1849). Despite two marriages and a growing family, Phelps taught 
at schools in several states, including as principal of Patapsco Female Institute in 
Maryland, a school modeled on the Troy Female Seminary. She was the first 
female member of the Maryland Academy of Sciences and in 1859 was only the 
second woman elected to the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science; the first was astronomer Maria Mitchell. 



materials for textiles, leading to specialized knowledge of plants and herbs for 
food, medicinal, and practical purposes. The first botanists, then, were women, 
and women were responsible for many early innovations in plant sciences, such 
as seed separation, chemical fertilizers, and the creation of new hybrid plant spe- 
cies and varieties. In 1796, Priscilla Bell Wakefield published her Introduction to 
Botany in a Series of Familiar Letters, which was in reprinted in England and 
America for the next 50 years. In the United States, Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps 
published her Familiar Lectures on Botany in 1829, an enormously popular book 
that went through numerous editions. 

Even after the late-nineteenth-century professionalization of scientific fields 
into distinct disciplines, botany was long viewed as an amateur — and therefore 
female — pursuit. An 1887 article even went so far as to pose the question, "Is 
Botany a Suitable Study for Young Men?" (Rossiter 1982, 338 n.25). By the turn 
of the century, many women were able to pursue master's degrees and doctorates 
in the sciences, and this generation produced some highly visible and successful 
female botanists. Elizabeth Knight Britton was a graduate of Hunter College 
and helped found the New York Botanical Society in 1891 and the Sullivant Moss 
Society in 1898 (later the American Bryological and Lichenological Society, 
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/jpbennet/web/abls/) (bryology is the study of 
mosses). In the nineteenth century, Kate Brandegee was the first paid botanical 



Disciplines | 93 

curator of the California Academy of Sciences; she was succeeded by another 
woman, Alice Eastwood, who did not hold an advanced degree, but who built 
and oversaw the botanical collection at the California Academy of Sciences for 
more than 50 years. Lucy Braun, who received her Ph.D. from the University of 
Cincinnati in 1914, was an important botanist, ecologist, and plant cataloger. Jesse 
Jarue Mark was the first African American to earn a doctorate in botany, which she 
received from Iowa State University in 1935. 

By 1921, the greatest number of female scientists employed in academia were 
in the field of botany, and the greatest number of these were employed at women's 
colleges, such as Wellesley, Hunter College, and Smith (Rossiter 1982, 170-173). 
As in other fields in the natural sciences, such as astronomy or zoology, female 
botanists created top-notch programs at the women's colleges and had an impor- 
tant role in training the next generation of women scientists. While women were 
concentrated as students and teachers in a small number of programs in the early 
part of the twentieth century, their numbers in the field of botany overall were 
relatively small in the next generation. Between 1946 and 1960, women earned 
just 11% of Ph.D.s in botany, plant pathology, or plant physiology (Rossiter 
1995, 80). Well into the twentieth century, women also predominated as nature 
illustrators, natural historians, conservationists, and horticulturists working out- 
side of academia. Josephine D. Brownell of Rhode Island patented more than three 
dozen types of roses between the 1930s and 1950s; Esther G. Fisher patented eight 
new roses in the 1950s; Cynthia Westcott studied rose diseases and wrote several 
consumer books on garden pests and plant diseases. 

Many early women botanists worked in state or local field stations. Josephine 
Tilden traveled the world to study and collect Pacific Rim algae and set up a 
Canadian research station for the University of Minnesota. Others worked for agri- 
cultural corporations and food producers, or for the federal government through the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), a significant employer of early-twentieth- 
century women scientists, including many botanists. Effie Southworth, a mycolo- 
gist who focused on fungi, was the first woman plant pathologist employed at the 
USDA; Flora Patterson worked in the USDA's Division of Vegetable Pathology. 
Wanda Kirkbride Farr was an early plant researcher (M.A., 1918) who discov- 
ered cellulose and had a career at the USDA, in industry, and in academia. 

Because of their early presence in the discipline, women have been especially 
active in professional plant sciences organizations throughout the twentieth cen- 
tury. In 1929, Margaret Ferguson was the first woman president of the Botanical 
Society of America (BSA, http://www.botany.org); Katherine Esau studied plant 
viruses and was president of the BSA in 1951. The BSA has had several more 
women presidents, including Mildred Mathias in 1984; 20 years earlier, in 
1964, Mathias was the first female president of the American Society of Plant 



94 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Clara Cummings 

Clara Eaton Cummings (1855-1906) was an American botanist who specialized 
in cryptogamic (sporeproducing) flora. She was recognized for her work on the 
lichens and mosses of Alaska and Labrador, contributing important additions to 
those classifications and editing publications on North American lichens, liver- 
worts, and mosses. Cummings was educated at Wellesley and at the University 
of Zurich, although she never obtained a formal degree. She traveled throughout 
Europe, visiting public gardens and collecting seeds and specimens to send back 
to Wellesley; she initiated a system of exchanging dried specimens of plants 
among collectors. She remained associated with the Wellesley botany depart- 
ment throughout her career, first as curator of the botanical museum and then as 
instructor. In 1903, she was named Hunnewell Professor of Cryptogamic Botany 
in recognition of the specialized work in which she had reached distinction. She 
was associate editor of the journal Plant World, and she served as vice president 
in 1904 of the Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology. 




Botanist Mildred Mathias. (Used with 
permission by University of California, Los 
Angeles) 



Taxonomists. Between 1987 and 
2007, there were 10 other female 
presidents of the BSA. Helen Hart 
studied rust-resistant wheat and other 
crops, and was the first woman 
president of the American Phyto- 
pathological Society (http:// 
www.apsnet.org) in 1955. The Ameri- 
can Society of Plant Biologists has a 
section devoted to women in plant 
biology (http://www.aspb.org/commit- 
tees/women/index.cfm). 

Modern botanists have worked in 
a variety of subfields. Eloise Gerry 
analyzed living trees and forest prod- 
ucts; Estella Leopold was trained in 
botany and became a specialist in 
paleoecology, or the study of prehis- 
toric plant spores and pollen and 
their environments; Elisabeth Gantt 
researches plant physiology and 



Disciplines | 95 

process such as photosynthesis; Jane Rissler researches the ecological impact of 
genetically modified food plants; and Ruth Patrick studies algae in freshwater 
ecosystems. Perhaps the most well-known female botanist of the twentieth century 
is plant geneticist Barbara McClintock, who received the Nobel Prize in Physiol- 
ogy or Medicine in 1983 for her work on maize, or corn. The exact numbers of 
women in plant sciences today is difficult to track precisely because botanists 
may be trained or employed in programs related to botany, plant sciences, ocean 
sciences, agriculture, ecology, and general biology. 

See also Biology; Environmental Sciences and Ecology; Genetics 

References 

Bonta, Marcia Myers. 1991. Women in the Field: America's Pioneering Women Naturalists. 
College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 

Bonta, Marcia Myers. 1995. American Women Afield: Writings by Pioneering Women 
Naturalists. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 

Botanical Society of America. "Celebrating Women in the Plant Sciences." http://www 
.botany.org/women in science/. 

Dudle, Dana A. and Meryl Altman. 2006. "Across the Language Barrier: Gender in Plant 
Biology and Feminist Theory." In Removing Barriers: Women in Academic Science, 
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, edited by Jill M. Bystydzienski and Sharon 
R. Bird, 215 233. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

Mcintosh, Maria S. and Steve R. Simmons. 2008. "A Century of Women in Agronomy: 
Lessons from Diverse Life Stories." Agronomy Journal. 100(S-53 S-69). http://agron 
. scij ournals.org/cgi/content/full/ 1 00/S upplement 3/S -5 3 . 

Rossiter, Margaret. 1982. Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940. 
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1995. Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 
1940 1972. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University. 



Chemistry 

Chemistry is the study of the properties, structure, changes, and reactions of 
physical matter, but overlaps with and has application to life sciences as well. 
Chemistry is the foundation of a number of other scientific disciplines, including 
biochemistry, physiology and pharmacology, geology, metallurgy, physics, and 
nuclear sciences. It is applicable to a variety of areas that impact our daily lives, 
including food and nutrition, health and beauty products, medicines, textiles and 
fabrics, and computers and plastics. 



96 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Chemistry has a long history; in some sense, women may be considered the first 
chemists. Women historically and cross-culturally have been responsible for bak- 
ing and cooking, the preparation of herbs and other medicines, and even the crea- 
tion of perfumes, all of which require the use of chemical and biochemical 
processes and reactions. Women were recorded as early alchemists as well 
(alchemy combined chemistry and philosophy or magic in efforts to transform 
common materials into valuable ones, such as gold or anti-aging cures) among 
the ancient Chinese and Egyptians, and — in even greater numbers — during the 
European medieval and Renaissance eras. During the "chemical revolution" of 
the eighteenth century (which saw the discovery of the properties of gases and of 
oxygen, among other milestones), several women worked as assistants or were 
spouses of prominent scientists. Unlike the greater number of women who worked 
as amateur astronomers, naturalists, geologists, or social scientists, chemistry 
required access to laboratories and equipment, and some wealthy or well-connected 
women were able to fund private research. A few European women emerged as 
voices in early chemistry: Englishwoman Jane Marcet published her Conversa- 
tions on Chemistry in 1769 (read by physicist and electricity experimenter 

Michael Faraday), and Scottish 
chemist Elizabeth Fulhame published 
An Essay on Combustion in 1794. 
Through the eighteenth and nine- 
teenth centuries, chemistry was not 
necessarily a separate discipline, but 
overlapped with work in (and was 
often overshadowed by) physics and 
mathematics. 

By the end of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, the scientific disciplines were 
professionalized, and status as a sci- 
entist depended on higher education 
and access to university laboratories, 
both of which were slow to admit 
women. In the United States, Helen 
Abbott Michael briefly attended 
Women's Medical College in Phila- 
delphia but became interested in plant 
chemistry and was the first woman 
invited to lecture at the Philadelphia 
College of Pharmacology. She later 
Chemist Emma Perry Carr. (Bettmann/Corbis) worked in the laboratory of her 




Disciplines | 97 



Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin 

British chemist Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910-1994) advanced the field of crys- 
tallography and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964 for her discovery of the 
molecular structure of penicillin and vitamin B 12 . She later determined the structure 
of insulin as well. Hodgkin was born in Egypt and educated at Somerville College, 
a women's college at the University of Oxford, England, and at Cambridge. Even 
after receiving her Ph.D. in 1 937, she was prevented from attending regular faculty 
meetings at Oxford or from using the equipment in male faculty's laboratories. She 
raised her own money and received several prestigious grants to purchase X-ray 
equipment with which to take photographs of proteins, cholesterol, antibiotics, vita- 
mins, and other biological molecules. She was not named a full professor until 
1 958, after 20 years of research at Oxford. By that time, she was one of the found- 
ing members of the International Union of Crystallography and had been named a 
fellow of the Royal Society, the highest scientific honor in Britain, for her work on 
the structure of penicillin. When, in 1964, she became the third woman to receive 
the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the newspapers reported that a "housewife" and 
"grandmother" had won the prize. 



husband, a chemistry professor at Tufts University. The periodic table of elements 
was created in the nineteenth century, with new elements and synthetic elements 
later discovered, and the American Chemical Society (ACS) was founded in 
1876, with Rachel Bodley admitted as the first female member. Bodley sub- 
sequently resigned her affiliation with the ACS over antiwoman commentary and 
activities at the annual meeting. Rachel Lloyd, a chemistry professor at the 
University of Nebraska who received her doctorate in Switzerland, was the next 
woman to join the ACS, in 1891. Food chemist Ellen Swallow Richards was the 
first female student and the first woman instructor at the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology (MIT), where she taught industrial chemistry and other courses 
(without pay) beginning in 1879. Emma Perry Carr was one of the earliest 
American women to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry (University of Chicago, 1910), 
and in 1937 was the first woman to receive the Garvan Medal of the American 
Chemical Society, a prize to acknowledge women's contributions to the field. 
She taught chemistry for four decades at Mount Holyoke. 

Inspired by the discovery of X-rays in 1895, scientists began searching for other 
sources of radiation and analyzing the radioactivity of various elements. The struc- 
ture and theory of atoms and molecules was explained in the 1920s and 1930s, and 
some of the most important discoveries of the twentieth century relied upon this 
overlap between chemistry and physics. The work of one of the most distinguished 



98 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Irene Joliot-Curie 

The Curie family was one of incredible achievements: French chemist and 
nuclear physicist Irene Joliot-Curie (1897-1956), daughter of Nobel Prize win- 
ners Pierre and Marie Curie, also received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935, 
jointly received with her husband, Frederic Joliot, for their work on radioactivity. 
Irene Curie worked with her famous mother on administering radiography and 
radium treatment to soldiers during World War I. She went on to earn a doctor- 
ate in 1925 with a thesis on polonium, an element discovered by her parents. 
Joliot-Curie's research on radium led to the Nobel Prize and paved the way for 
the discovery of nuclear fission by other scientists. She was a Commissioner 
for Atomic Energy in France and in 1946 became director of the Radium Insti- 
tute founded 30 years earlier by her parents. Like her mother before her, 
Joliot-Curie's long-term work with radioactive elements, including an accidental 
exposure to polonium, led to the development of leukemia and an early death. 
The family scientific legacy continues, as both of Joliot-Curie's children are 
physical scientists in France: daughter Helene Langevin-Joliot is a nuclear 
physicist and son Pierre Joliot is a biochemist. 



women in chemistry reveals this overlap. French scientist Marie Curie discovered 
that thorium was radioactive and was awarded the Nobel Prize in two different 
fields — she shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and won the prize in Chem- 
istry in 1911. Her daughter, Irene Joliot-Curie, amazingly, also won a joint Nobel 
Prize in Chemistry in 1935 for her work on radioactive elements. Both women 
died of leukemia, undoubtedly from radiation exposure in the course of their sci- 
entific work. Two other women have won Nobel Prizes in Chemistry for their work 
using X-ray crystallography: British scientist Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin won in 
1964 for studying the structures of biochemical substances, and Israeli scientist 
Ada Yonath shared the prize in 2009 for her research on the role of ribosomes 
in DNA. 

Chemistry as a research field and method overlaps with numerous other scien- 
tific disciplines, and so the true numbers of women engaged in chemical research 
is extensive and unknowable. Early-twentieth-century women chemists worked in 
agricultural and food sciences, nutrition, biochemistry, industrial chemistry, and 
pharmaceuticals development. Anna Sommer was an early plant or soil chemist 
who received her doctorate from Berkeley in 1924 and identified minerals in soil 
and their benefits for agriculture. Biochemistry was another "new" science of the 
early twentieth century and involved understanding the chemical processes of cells, 
enzymes, proteins, and the effect of organic and synthetic substances on the body, 



Disciplines | 99 

and American women have made substantial contributions in this field. Marie 
Daly was the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry (from 
Columbia University in 1948) and was one of the early biochemists who discov- 
ered the link between cholesterol and heart attacks. Elizabeth Weisburger is a 
toxicologist researching the carcinogenic (or cancer-causing) effects of chemicals 
in environmental toxins and even in medicines. In the late twentieth and into the 
twenty-first centuries, some of the most important work in chemistry is still being 
done in pharmaceuticals and biochemistry research, with the addition of the fields 
of nuclear science and physics, plastics and material sciences, and, of course, com- 
puters (semiconductors, silicon chips). Chemists have received an extraordinary 
large number of patents due to the nature of the field as one of innovation and dis- 
covery. Stephanie Kwolek, a chemist for DuPont, invented Kevlar, a high-strength 
material used in a variety of products, including bulletproof vests for law- 
enforcement officers and for soldiers. Textile chemist Ruth Benerito received 
more than 50 patents for processes related to treating fabrics and permanent- 
press materials. Women chemists are proud of their long history of achievement 
and contributions, and maintain records of that history through organizations such 
as the Chemical Heritage Foundation's Women in Chemistry project (http:// 
chemheritage.org/women chemistry/). 

The numbers of women as chemistry students in colleges and universities 
peaked (as it did in the sciences overall) in the 1920s. In 1929, women received 
10% of all U.S. chemistry doctorates; that number decreased to just 5% of doctor- 
ates in 1933, and reached an all-time low of 2% throughout most of the 1940s 
(Rayner-Canham and Rayner-Canham 1998, 199). But while women were not 
earning doctorates at a high rate throughout the 1940s, more women than ever 
were employed, including as new faculty members. Chemistry was one of the 
fields that saw a tremendous increase in the numbers of women due to technologi- 
cal development and needs during World War II. During just the four-year period 
between 1942 and 1946, the numbers of women chemistry faculty members in 
universities more than tripled (Rossiter 1995, 11). The numbers of women going 
to graduate school and earning doctorates, however, would not rise again until 
the 1970s, at which time women reached 10% of chemistry Ph.D.s again, and have 
risen steadily ever since. In 1985, women earned 20% of chemistry Ph.D.s, but 
made up only 4.9% of tenure-track faculty. Significant progress in women's access 
to higher education resulted in women earning 30% of chemistry doctorates by 
2003, but they still make up only 12% of tenure-track faculty, revealing a "leaky 
pipeline" in academia seen throughout the sciences (Wilson 2006). Many chem- 
ists, however, work outside of academia in industrial or government research or 
pharmaceutical companies. 

See also Biochemistry; Crystallography; Nutrition 



100 I American Women of Science since 1900 

References 

Miller, Jane A. 1990. "Women in Chemistry." In Women of Science: Righting the Record, 
edited by G. Kass-Simon and Patricia Fames, 300 334. Bloomington: Indiana University 
Press. 

Rayner-Canham, Marelene F. and Geoffrey Rayner-Canham. 1998. Women in Chemistry: 
Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century. Philadelphia, 
PA: Chemical Heritage Foundation. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1995. Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 
1940 1972. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University. 

Wilson, Robin. 2006. "The Chemistry between Women and Science." Chronicle of Higher 
Education (26 May 2006). 

Climatology 

See Meteorology 

Computer Sciences and Information Technology 

Computer science encompasses both the theory and application of automation and 
information processing, from creating mathematical algorithms and programming 
languages to the design and implementation of user-friendly software and hard- 
ware. It may also include a broad range of activities related to information technol- 
ogy (IT), which deals with the storage, retrieval, and transmission of information 
through databases and networks. Computer sciences is one area in which technical 
experience and knowledge are essential; therefore, gainful employment, even at 
the highest levels, may be attained without a doctorate, although the Ph.D. is usu- 
ally required for university teaching and research positions. Many computer scien- 
tists and software engineers are employed in industry or business, and many others 
are self-employed in the technology sector. This explains, in part, the discrepancy 
between the relatively low number of women receiving doctorates in computer sci- 
ences and the high number of women actually employed as computer and informa- 
tion scientists. The doctorate in computer science is itself a fairly recent 
development. In 1968, Barbara Liskov became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. 
in a computer science program. Nearly 40 years later, in 2006, only 310 computer 
science Ph.D.s were granted to women, or 2.7% of all science and engineering 
doctorates earned by women (NSF Table F-2), and yet women accounted for 39% 
of computer and information scientists, the single largest occupational category 
for women scientists and engineers in 2006 (NSF Table H-19). 



Disciplines | 101 



Ada Lovelace 

Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1 852), is recognized as one 
of the pioneers of computer programming for her detailed notes on the invention of a 
nineteenth-century calculating machine. Born in London, she was the daughter of 
Romantic poet Lord Byron. She never knew her famous father, however, who sep- 
arated from her mother, Anne Isabella Milbank (Lady Byron), and left England just a 
few months after Ada's birth. In 1835, Ada married William King, Earl of Lovelace. 
Although there were no scientific or professional opportunities for a woman at that 
time, as a member of the elite, she received a solid education and was able to pur- 
sue an intellectual life. She befriended Cambridge mathematics professor Charles 
Babbage, who invented several calculators and had Ada compile and translate 
notes on his plans for an "analytical engine." He never built the machine, but Ada's 
notes reveal the earliest algorithm for machine calculations, the precursor to the 
modern computer. She has been the subject of several biographies, credited for 
her role in early mathematics and computing. In the 1970s, the U.S. Department 
of Defense's computer programming language, Ada, was named for her. 



The history of computing, however, is much longer and overlaps with innovation 
in mathematics and technology. Women made early contributions to computing, 
beginning with Ada Lovelace (born Augusta Ada Byron), who co-invented a proto- 
computer adding machine or calculator in the nineteenth century. Her role was later 
acknowledged with an early programming language for the military that was named 
"Ada." Before the invention of electronic computers, "computer" was a job descrip- 
tion, not a machine. Both men and women were employed as computers in the early 
twentieth century, but women were more prominent in the field due to the wartime 
shortage of male workers. In 1942, just after the United States entered World 
War II, hundreds of women, many with degrees in mathematics, were employed in 
government research centers and universities as computers, using mechanical desk 
calculators to solve long equations. The results of these calculations were compiled 
into tables and published for use on the battlefield. The tables allowed soldiers in 
the field to aim artillery or other weapons, taking into account variable conditions 
such as temperature and air density. Today, such calculations are done instantly with 
microcomputers. The computer itself (as we know it) was developed after World 
War II, also for government and military applications. ENIAC was one of the first 
electronic digital computers, and Adele Goldstine, a former math teacher, trained 
the first group of women programmers. At that time, programming involved man- 
ually assembling the circuits and cables, and Goldstine wrote the technical operator's 
manual for ENIAC (Stanley 1995, 442^43). 



102 | American Women of Science since 1900 

During the Cold War and the years of the space program, smaller, faster 
machines were developed that outperformed the large government mainframes, 
and software applications were developed that could be marketed to the general 
public. Computers were soon used for everything from engineering and design 
work, to games and animation used by the entertainment industry, to everyday 
office use. Women were important to the development of early computer 
hardware systems, including Margaret Butler, who helped develop one of the 
first digital computers for science as a staff mathematician at Argonne National 
Laboratory in the early 1950s. Grace Hopper (also a mathematician) was part 
of the group that developed COBOL, the most widespread programming 
language through the 1960s and 1970s. Evelyn Berezin is often called the 
"mother of word processing," and she founded her own company in 1969 to 
manufacture and sell a machine that would replace the editing typewriter. By 
the 1980s, word processors were basic equipment in every office, and word- 
processing software soon became a standard feature of every personal computer. 
Lynn Conway is known for designing and fabricating integrated computer cir- 
cuit chips, and Elsa Reichmanis helped develop new materials that are used 
in integrated circuits. 




Computer scientist and organic chemist, Elsa Reichmanis, 2002. (AP/Wide World Photos) 



Disciplines | 103 

Other women have been involved in the development of computer software. 
Adele Goldberg helped develop a programming language for a personal computer 
while working for Xerox Corporation. Her "object-oriented" program included 
icons, windows, and a mouse, all user-friendly features that became the foundations 
of the Microsoft and Apple consumer software programs ubiquitous today. 
Martine Kempf and Sandra Hutchins worked on voice-recognition software; 
Sandra Kurtzig founded her own software company, ASK Computer Systems, 
which became one of the largest public companies founded by a woman. Ruth 
Davis helped establish international standards for data encryption of computers, 
and Thelma Estrin and Evangelia Micheli-Tzanakou researched computer 
applications in brain research. Mary Pickett was involved in programming 
industrial robots for use in manufacturing at General Motors Corporation in 
1984, making it possible to automate an entire production line. Jean Sammet 
was in charge of programming languages at International Business Machines 
Corporation (IBM) for many years and taught some of the first college computer 
programming languages in the United States in the 1950s. Sammet was also the 
first woman president of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), and 
Adele Goldberg and Gwen Bell have been presidents as well. Mary Shaw helped 
establish software engineering as a profession, and Roberta Williams was one of 
the pioneers of the computer gaming industry, one of the biggest growth areas in 
software for the twenty-first century. In 2006, Frances Allen became the first 
woman to receive the Turing Award, considered the Nobel Prize of the computer 
industry, for her innovations in high-speed computing. 

Other scientists have been concerned with the social impact of computers. 
Psychologist Sherry Turkle is an authority on the psychological and sociological 
effects of computers, and has researched how individuals interact with computers 
and how computers shape our identities. Some feminists have been interested in 
the role of gender in computer experiences, finding the profession as well as con- 
sumer access to be male-dominated enterprises. The Internet era has created a 
"global village," not only connecting the world, but changing the home-versus- 
work dichotomy and therefore impacting women's lives. Computers have had a 
revolutionary impact on women's roles as workers and as consumers, creating 
new possibilities for wage-earning and for work/life balance through telecommut- 
ing, online sales, microbusiness, and distance education and skills acquisition. All 
of these innovations have potential for increasing women's economic indepen- 
dence, but also raise questions about how, even as we are connected to the larger 
world, the Internet confines women's work more securely within the home, as 
there is no longer a need to leave home to pursue education and employment. 

While access to the Internet has created a global "information revolution," 
some scholars argue that there is still a "digital divide" when it comes to gendered 



104 | American Women of Science since 1900 

and economic access to computers and the Internet. Issues of education, house- 
hold resources, job skills, and even access to electricity affect different regions 
of the world unequally, and may also be gendered in ways that impact women's 
ability and rate of online access. Another issue for feminists concerned about 
women's access to technology and technology-related careers is the computer lit- 
eracy and education of girls. Early education is key in creating interest and skills 
for later success, as early computer literacy has been linked to higher math test 
scores and later interest in science and technology fields. Early computer educa- 
tion may not be gender-neutral, however, as some studies have found that boys 
are more likely to receive computer education at home from their parents, are 
more likely to have computers in their own rooms, and spend more time playing 
handheld and computer gaming systems, all activities that increase early com- 
puter literacy and may disadvantage girls (Margolis and Fisher 2003). While the 
technology itself may be gender-neutral, the change brought by technology has 
the potential for either challenging or upholding existing social beliefs and roles. 
See also Engineering; Mathematics 

References 

American Association of University Women. 2000. Tech-Savvy: Educating Girls in the 
New Computer Age. Commission on Technology, Gender, and Teacher Education. 
Washington, D.C.: American Association of University Women Education Foundation. 
http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/TechSavvy.pdf. 

Kirk, Mary. 2009. Gender and Information Technology: Moving Beyond Access to 
Co-Create Global Partnership. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. 

Kramarae, Cheris. 2001. The Third Shift: Women Learning Online. Washington, D.C.: 
American Association of University Women Education Foundation, http:// 
www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/thirdshift.pdf. 

Margolis, Jane and Allan Fisher. 2003. Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing. 
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-2. S&E doctoral degrees awarded to women, by field: 
1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineer- 
ing. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of 
Earned Doctorates, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabf-2.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. 2006. "Table H-19. Employed scientists and engineers, by sec- 
tor of employment, broad occupation, sex, race/ethnicity, and disability status: 2006." 
Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. National 
Science Foundation, Division of Science Resource Statistics, Scientists and Engineers 
Statistical Data System (SESTAT). http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh- 19.pdf. 

Stanley, Autumn. 1995. Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History 
of Technology. 2nd edition. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 



Disciplines | 105 

Tam, Mo- Yin S. and Gilbert W. Bassett, Jr. 2006. "The Gender Gap in Information Tech- 
nology." In Removing Barriers: Women in Academic Science, Technology, Engineering, 
and Mathematics, edited by Jill M. Bystydzienski and Sharon R. Bird, 108 122. 
Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 



Crystallography 

Crystallography is the science of determining the physical structure of atoms or 
molecules in crystals or other solid matter, such as minerals, metals, vitamins, coal, 
salts, proteins, viruses, cells, and DNA. It is a subfield of physics or chemistry and 
has applications for research in other areas as well, notably biology, biochemistry, 
and geology or earth sciences, and also requires the use of mathematical models 
and analyses. Understanding the structure of crystals informs our understanding 
of the properties of a variety of materials, and therefore has implications for 
research not only into organic matter, but related to the development of synthetic 
chemicals, plastics, metals, and other materials as well. A career in crystallography 
can be approached from several different disciplines, including chemistry, physics, 
biology, geology, mathematics, and materials science. The best preparation is a 
broad background in several scientific areas, as well as experience using and pro- 
gramming computers. A bachelor's degree in biology, for example, should include 
more physics, mathematics, and chemistry than normally required. 

Crystallography is a new science of the twentieth century. There were early 
efforts to determine and record the structure of crystals using microscopes, but in 
the early 1900s, it was discovered that X-ray waves could be used to diffract or 
reflect the image of a crystal, revealing the internal patterns and structures. The 
technological advances of tools of X-ray crystallography, including the spectrom- 
eter and spectrophotography, made it possible to record and analyze an unlimited 
number of molecules from a variety of materials. After the first efforts of X-ray 
crystallographers to examine the structure of minerals and elements, there was 
an explosion of interest in the following decades in determining the structure of 
other molecules from organic materials. There was suddenly an unlimited amount 
of work to be done, and so many women entered the field that, for a time in the 
early to mid-twentieth century at least, crystallography was seen by many scien- 
tists to be a predominantly female field. This was probably due, in part, to the fact 
that, as a new field of study undergoing rapid technological and knowledge advan- 
ces, crystallography did not have an established hierarchy. It was an ideal entry 
point for younger scientists, many of them women among the first generation earn- 
ing advanced degrees in science, to break into scientific research and have an 
opportunity to excel. 



106 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Ada Yonath 

Israeli scientist Ada Yonath (b. 1939) was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in 
Chemistry for her work on the structure of bacterial ribosomes. She uses crystallog- 
raphy, or X-ray techniques, to understand the effect of antibiotics on bacteria, aiding 
research on antibiotic resistance and the development of new drugs. She is profes- 
sor of structural biology and current director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman 
Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly at the Weizmann Institute of 
Science in Rehovot, Israel. Although her Jewish parents were not wealthy, she 
was able to attend the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she studied chemistry 
and biochemistry, and went on to earn a doctorate in crystallography from the 
Weizmann Institute. She has conducted research and held prestigious appointments 
at universities in the United States, Germany, and Israel. In 2003, she was named as 
a foreign associate to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She shared the 2009 
Nobel Prize with British researcher Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and American 
Thomas A. Steitz, and is the first Israeli woman to receive a Nobel Prize. 



Crystallography was also an international effort, and British women 
subsequently made some of the most important and high-profile discoveries in 
the field. Rosalind Franklin created and analyzed X-ray images of DNA, the 
tobacco mosaic virus, and the polio virus. Her work led to the discovery of the 
double-helix structure of DNA, for which her contemporaries, Francis Crick and 
James Watson, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962. 
In one of the more tragic stories in the history of women in science, Franklin died 
at the age of only 37 after developing ovarian cancer (which many believe was 
due to her exposure to X-ray radiation in her work) and, as the award is not granted 
posthumously, was left out of the Nobel Prize recognition. Another British scientist, 
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, won the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her use of 
X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of vitamin B 12 . Hodgkin also con- 
firmed the structure of penicillin and insulin, and therefore her work had implica- 
tions for biochemistry and pharmaceutical development. Another woman, Israeli 
scientist Ada Yonath, shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 for her use of 
X-ray crystallography in research on the role of ribosomes in DNA. 

While British women were overwhelmingly represented in crystallography in 
the first half of the twentieth century (Rayner-Canham and Rayner-Canham 
1998), the first woman to earn a Ph.D. specifically in crystallography was Gabrielle 
Donnay at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1949, who worked in 
the field of geology and mineralogy. American Isabella Karle and her husband, 
Jerome Karle (also a Nobel Prize recipient), had an amazing 60-year career as 



Disciplines | 107 



Rosalind Franklin 

British geneticist and crystallographer Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) was part of 
the team that discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, one of the greatest 
scientific discoveries of the twentieth century. For many years, however, Franklin's 
contribution to this work was unacknowledged by either her colleagues or the larger 
scientific community. Franklin graduated from Newnham College, the women's col- 
lege of Cambridge University, and her early work in chemistry and crystallography 
focused on determining the structure of coal and carbon. After receiving her doctor- 
ate from Cambridge, she began using X-ray diffraction to take numerous pictures of 
DNA in order to create a model of its structure. American James Watson was also 
researching DNA models, and Franklin's photos provided the evidence for his 
theory of the double-helix structure of the DNA molecule. In April 1 953, Watson 
and Francis Crick published their famous results in the British science journal 
Nature, which also contained a supplemental article by Franklin and a student, 
Raymond Gosling, providing evidence from their own research. Franklin went on 
to study the structure of other biological substances, including the polio virus. 
Unfortunately, she died of ovarian cancer in 1 958 at the age of only 37, and Watson, 
Crick, and Maurice Wilkins earned credit for the DNA discovery with a Nobel Prize 
in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 (the prize is awarded only to living scientists). 



renowned crystallographers with the Naval Research Laboratory. The Karles made 
technological advances in the field with their invention of a new method for photo- 
graphing crystals, and Isabella Karle's work provided the foundation for develop- 
ment of synthetic materials, including pharmaceuticals. Elizabeth Armstrong 
Wood used crystallography in her work in geology, studying minerals and rocks, 
and later in the development of lasers and other work for Bell Telephone Laborato- 
ries. Both Elizabeth Wood and Isabella Karle served as presidents of the American 
Crystallographic Association, in 1957 and 1976, respectively. 

Other women working in biomedical sciences or physics have studied or used 
crystallography, including Jane Richardson and Dorothy Maud Wrinch, 
biochemists who map proteins, and Jenny Glusker (who studied with Dorothy 
Hodgkin in Oxford, England), who has contributed to cancer research with her work 
using crystallography to determine the structure of cancer-causing chemicals, or car- 
cinogens. Physicist and metallurgist Julia Weertman studies the structure and tem- 
perature resistance of different metals, and nuclear physicist Chien-Shiung Wu 
separated uranium isotopes and helped develop radiation detectors as part of the 
atomic bomb project in the 1950s. 

It is difficult to determine the exact number of working crystallographers 
because of the interdisciplinary nature of the field and because crystallography is 



108 | American Women of Science since 1900 



not only a subfield but more of 
a focus or tool used within these 
other disciplines. The American 
Crystallographic Association (http:// 
aca.hwi.buffalo.edu/) and the Inte- 
rnational Union of Crystallography 
(http://www.iucr.org/) bring together 
and represent scientists working in 
various fields. 

See also Biomedical Sciences; 
Chemistry; Geology; Physics 

References 

Julian, Maureen M. 1990. "Women in 
Crystallography." In Women of Sci- 
ence: Righting the Record, edited by 
G. Kass-Simon and Patrician Fames, 
335 383. Bloomington: Indiana Uni- 
versity Press. 

McLachlan, Dan, Jr., and Jenny P. 
Glusker, eds. 1983. Crystallography in 
North America. New York: American 
Crystallographic Association. 

Rayner-Canham, Marelene F. and Geoffrey Rayner-Canham. 1998. Women in Chemistry: 
Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century. Philadelphia, 
PA: Chemical Heritage Foundation. 




Crystallographer and cancer researcher, 
Jenny Glusker. (Courtesy of the Fox Chase 
Cancer Center.) 



Earth Sciences 

See Environmental Sciences and Ecology; Geography; Geology; Meteorology; 
Ocean Sciences 



Economics 



Economics is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the "social science 
concerned chiefly with description and analysis of the production, distribution, 
and consumption of goods and service." The analysis of property, wealth, and 
markets has a long history, and has impacted the development of ethics, law, trade, 
and politics as well. Economists work in a variety of subfields and study not only 



Disciplines | 109 

financial information and trends but human behavior as well in seeking to under- 
stand our relationships to and decision-making processes about work, money, 
and consumer goods. Laissez-faire economics focuses on individual rational 
economic choices as driving the supply and demand of markets, while more 
radical theories (influenced by Karl Marx in the nineteenth century) argue that 
individuals have little choice within capitalism, which depends upon a permanent 
wage-earning class. Beginning in the 1970s, feminists pointed out the connection 
between patriarchy and capitalism, both of which rely upon women's unpaid house- 
hold labor to uphold the economy. Finally, an institutional model of economics 
takes a broader view of how multiple economic, political, and cultural systems (such 
as religion) work together to impact the economy of a specific region or society. 

Much of Western thinking about economics has been influenced by Adam 
Smith's theory of the free market in The Wealth of Nations, first published in 
1776. Priscilla Bell Wakefield made the earliest female response to Smith's text, 
arguing in her 1798 essay, "Reflections on the Present Condition of the Female 
Sex, with Suggestions for Its Improvement," that the economic contribution of 
women in the home, and the exchange of services and not just goods, is also essen- 
tial to the economy. Throughout the nineteenth century, feminists linked women's 
economic dependence on men, and their underlying lack of access to education 
and the professions, to female legal and political subordination. One hundred 
years after Wakefield first challenged Smith's economic model, American writer 
Charlotte Perkins Gilman published Women and Economics: A Study of the 
Economic Relation between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution, a 
radical call for women's economic independence and a challenge to the depen- 
dence forced upon women through marriage and motherhood. 

The field of economics itself has been understood by many feminists to 
be male-dominated in both employment patterns and subject matter. Only a 
handful of female economists have been elected to the National Academy of 
Sciences, including Anne Krueger (1995), Nancy Stokey (2004), and Elinor 
Ostrom (2001). The American Economic Association (AEA) Committee on 
the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (http://www.cswep.org) tracks 
the numbers and employment status of female economists at research univer- 
sities. In 2007, women received nearly 35% of new doctorates in economics 
and subsequently made up 28.8% of entry-level tenure-track professors; this is 
compared to 1972, when women earned 12% of economics doctorates and made 
up only 6% of full-time faculty of any rank. However, at the highest levels of 
academia, in 2007, women made up only 8.7% of full professors. Even more 
discouraging, some 40% of Ph.D. -granting research institutions had no female 
full professors on the faculty in 2007. 



I 10 I American Women of Science since 1900 




As in computer sciences and engi- 
neering, however, there are many 
high-level career opportunities out- 
side of academia, and economists 
are employed in diverse research, 
government, policymaking, national, 
and international business settings. 
In 2008, a full one-quarter of 
employed female economists in the 
United States worked in the private 
sector, and another 10% were 
employed in the government or 
public sector. Another 20% were 
employed internationally, either in 
foreign universities or in business 
(Fraumeni 2008). Juanita Kreps 
and Alice Rivlin have held prominent 
positions within the U.S. government. 
Kreps served as the first female (and 
first professional economist) Secre- 
tary of Commerce, serving under 
President Carter, and Rivlin has held 
several government positions, includ- 
ing as first head of the Congressional Banking Office when it was established in 
1975 and later as vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board. Other economists have 
worked in both academia and government; Laura Tyson has held a long-time 
faculty position, has been dean of two prestigious business schools, and has also 
served as economic advisor to two presidents on global markets, trade, high-tech 
industries, and healthcare reform. Economics was added as a category for the Nobel 
Prize in 1969, and 40 years later, in 2009, American Elinor Ostrom became the 
first woman to receive that prize. 

Some universities now offer specialization or certification in gender and eco- 
nomics. Feminist economic theory begins with a critique of theories that focus 
solely on the public spheres of markets and production (wage work), ignoring 
the economic contribution of women's unpaid work of household labor, reproduc- 
tive labor, and their role in consumption. The rise of the new home economics in 
the 1980s sought to make women's work visible and quantifiable, while acknowl- 
edging that household labor and childcare also limit women's choices regarding 
participation in wage work. This, in turn, justifies paying women less because they 
are seen as temporary, part-time, or uncommitted workers. The feminist critique of 



Economist Anne Krueger served as a vice 
president and consultant for the World Bank 
and director of the International Monetary 
Fund from 2001 to 2006. (AP/Wide World 
Photos) 



Disciplines | I I I 

rational individual economic behavior, then, questions how much economic 
"choice" women can truly exercise when considering the options of either working 
for low wages in "women's" jobs or working without pay in the household. 

Other workplace issues affecting women's economic status include equal pay, 
educational and employment access, hiring and advancement discrimination, and 
welfare issues. Phyllis Ann Wallace was the first black woman to receive a doc- 
torate in economics from Yale University (1948), and was a pioneer in research 
on the economics of racial and sexual discrimination in the workplace. A signifi- 
cant amount of recent attention has also been focused on the relationship between 
work and parenting, whether on the work mothers perform in the home, the 
challenges for working mothers in the wage labor force (including access to 
affordable, quality childcare), or women's "second shift" of work and childcare 
at home. Sylvia Hewlett founded the Center for Work-Life Policy (http:// 
www.worklifepolicy.org) to research precisely these and other dilemmas facing 
women in the workforce throughout the lifecycle, as the sexual division of labor 
disadvantages women not only during childbearing and childrearing years, but in 
old age as well. 

Finally, it is not only workplace issues, or questions of education and access, but 
also gender inequality in the family itself that limits women's economic activities 
and potential. Feminists question the ability of women to make free individual 
economic "choices" given the limits and pressures of family, culture, religion, 
and governments (particularly development programs) on women's lives. In this 
sense, economic relations and contexts may be more important than a focus solely 
on individual choices and needs. For example, self-interest (survival) is often seen 
as driving economic choices, but self-interest may look different for women com- 
pared to men. Women may not always operate from a perspective of self-interest 
or competition, or from a perspective of maximizing wage-earning as their primary 
economic role. Women, in general, some economists have shown, are more likely 
to make economic decisions based in a larger family context of caregiving and 
providing for the education and future security of children. 

See also Nutrition and Home Economics 

References 

Ferber, Marianne A. and Julie A. Nelson, eds. 2003. Feminist Economics Today: Beyond 
Economic Man. University of Chicago Press. 

Fraumeni, Barbara. 2008. "Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in the 
Economics Profession 2008." CSWEP. http://www.cswep.org/annual reports/ 
2008 CSWEP Annual Report.pdf. 

International Museum of Women (IMOW). "Economica: Women and the Global 
Economy." Online exhibit, http://www.imow.org/economica/index. 



I 12 I American Women of Science since 1900 

Olson, Paulette I. and Zohren Emami, eds. 2002. Engendering Economics: Conversations 
with Women Economists in the United States. New York: Routledge. 



Engineering 

Engineering can be defined as the practical application of mathematical and 
scientific principles to challenges in design, manufacturing, and operation. Engi- 
neers may design materials, structures, machines, computer programs, concepts, 
or processes. There are many different types of engineers, such as civil, electrical, 
mechanical, chemical, safety, materials, industrial, computer, aeronautical, aero- 
space, and biomedical. Broadly considered, then, engineering is the foundation 
of technological development and innovation across many scientific fields or disci- 
plines and therefore overlaps with the history of science in general. Humans have 
always sought to understand and improve their lives through the invention of tools, 
machines, buildings, cities, aqueducts, military equipment, household appliances, 
bridges, electricity, different modes of transportation and communication, foods, 
pharmaceuticals, chemicals, plastics, and computers. Different branches of engi- 
neering, or specialties, formed around specific industries and needs, but as all 
engineers seek to understand how things work, they must therefore have a strong 
foundation in the physical and theoretical sciences and in mathematics. 

Women have a long history of engineering contributions, although those contribu- 
tions have not always been acknowledged or recorded. The first American woman to 
receive a patent was probably Mary Dixon Kies of Connecticut, who in 1809 
patented a process for weaving straw with silk or thread (Stanley 1995, 304). Engi- 
neering has not always been considered a separate field, and many early engineers 
(as we would identify them today) were trained and worked within physics, chemis- 
try, math, or other fields, even business, psychology, or home economics (as with Lil- 
lian Gilbreth, an industrial time-management engineer who was the first female 
member of the Society of Mechanical Engineers). There have been an overwhelming 
number of women's inventions, tools, machines, and electrical or mechanical pro- 
cesses, some patented, some developed without acknowledgement or recompense 
to the original inventor. The first American doctorate in engineering was awarded 
at Yale University in 1 863 , and by the early 1 900s, only a few women had earned for- 
mal engineering degrees. Olive Dennis received a degree in civil engineering from 
Cornell University in 1920 and worked for many years as a "draftsman" designing 
railroad terminals. Commenting on the small but visible presence of women in engi- 
neering programs, a 1937 school newspaper reported, "Three Coeds Invade Engi- 
neering Courses and Compete with Men at Cornell University: Stand Well in Their 
Studies" (Bix 2006, 47). The headline acknowledged the women's accomplishments, 



Disciplines | 113 

but the use of words such as "invade" and "compete" reflected the view that the wom- 
en's presence was still a hostile act. 

Still, Cornell was among the few schools admitting women as engineering 
students before World War II. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 
admitted a few women, including Edith Clarke, the first woman to receive an 
electrical engineering degree from MIT in 1919. Clarke went on to have a produc- 
tive career in both industry, working for ATT and General Electric, and later in 
academia. But some of the most prestigious engineering programs and technical 
schools did not admit any women until well into the 1950s and 1960s. As in many 
other scientific fields, it was the shortage of male workers during World War II, 
and the new technological demands of war, that opened doors for women, espe- 
cially in new industries and nontraditional work for women. Companies recruited 
women and trained them on the job in mathematics, basic scientific concepts and 
terminology, drawing and design, mechanics, materials, welding, and machining 
for work in wartime production, aircraft and ship building, and weapons factories. 
Such programs, and women's employment in general, were seen as fulfilling a 
temporary need, and once the war over and the men returned, the expectation 
was that women would put their educations aside and leave the workforce. Some 
college campuses even returned to prewar policies of denying admission to female 
students. Women were not so quick to give up their newly acquired skills and edu- 
cation, however, and some began campaigns for access to technical education and 
engineering jobs. The Society of Women Engineers (http://www.swe.org) was 
founded in 1946 by a group of female engineering students at Iowa State. The 
SWE soon spread to other campuses and cities, and incorporated as a national 
organization in 1952, with Beatrice Hicks as the first president. 

The SWE also focused on dispelling myths about female engineers and on out- 
reach and encouraging girls (and their parents) to pursue engineering education 
and careers, recognizing that there was a social stigma that accounted for women's 
low representation in the field, and not just institutional barriers. As Irene Peden 
of the SWE acknowledged in 1965, "A girl is not likely to choose a career field 
disapproved by her parents, teachers, classmates, and friends." Peden also wanted 
to assure young women (and men) that "[m]any women engineers are very attrac- 
tive; most represent a perfectly normal cross section of femininity" (Bix 2006, 50). 

Even though engineers were needed to further the war effort and for the 
postwar modern military-industrial needs, it was not until the 1960s that the U.S. 
government's Cold War commitment to scientific research and technological 
advancement had an impact on women's access to engineering education and 
employment. Education required subsequent access to jobs, however, and 
corporate-industrial culture had to change as well. Recruiters inevitably saw engi- 
neers as men, and well into the 1960s bemoaned a shortage of engineers while 



I 14 I American Women of Science since 1900 

rejecting qualified female applicants. The SWE reported on a survey of company 
managers in 1961, which found that "81 percent wouldn't hire female engineers" 
(Bix 2006, 54). This attitude began to change, legally and socially, with the passage 
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and with the momentum of the new feminist move- 
ment, so that, by the 1970s, many companies proudly proclaimed their records (or at 
least intentions) on hiring women. For the most part, however, women's presence in 
professional engineering is concentrated in more recent decades. 

Although a doctorate was not always required for employment, between 1947 
and 1961, women received only 24 of the more than 8,000 engineering doctorates 
awarded (Rossiter 1995, 82). Women still made up less than 3% of practicing 
engineers by the early 1980s (Trescott 1990). By 2006, that number had risen to 
11.5% of employed engineers, still a marginal representation. As with computer 
sciences, many engineering jobs are in industry or business rather than academia 
and do not always require a higher degree. Of those women employed as engineers 
in 2006, 72% were in business or industry, and another 16.5% worked for federal, 
state, or local governments. Only 7.5% of women engineers are employed in 
colleges and universities (NSF Table H-19). In many engineering specialties, tech- 
nical experience is just as important as (if not more important than) formal educa- 
tion. This has both benefited and, ironically, hindered women's entrance into the 
engineering professions. In the nineteenth century, engineers were trained on the 
job in the dirty, physically demanding, and even dangerous factories, railroad 
yards, or survey expeditions, jobs from which women were excluded. Through 
the twentieth century and beyond, young boys are still more likely to be encour- 
aged to help their fathers build things and to play with building sets (Legos, 
Lincoln Logs, erector sets), model car and railroad sets, electronic hobby sets, 
and, now, computers and video games. Girls are not specifically excluded from 
such activities, but these toys are marketed to boys, and girls still receive social 
messages about appropriate interests. 

Modern engineers work in a variety of industries and applications, and women's 
contributions are now widespread across disciplines, with a focus on technological 
or mechanical innovation. Mildred Dresselhaus, a physicist and electrical engi- 
neer, was an expert on semimetals and semiconductors. Thelma Estrin, a former 
vice president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), was 
one of the earliest practitioners of clinical engineering, and pioneered the use of 
computers in brain research. Martine Kempf is a self-trained electronics engineer 
and computer scientist who invented a voice-recognition system for disabled 
persons to operate vehicles. Christine Darden is an aeronautical engineer who 
has worked on issues related to aircraft design and the environmental impact of 
supersonic flights during her long career at the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA). Bonnie Dunbar, also at NASA, was an early female 



Disciplines | 115 




astronaut and a biomedical engineer 
who studied the effect of space flight 
on the body. Rodica Baranescu is a 
mechanical engineer and in 2000 
was the first female president of the 
Society of Automotive Engineers 
International. 

Because of the continued low rep- 
resentation of women in engineering, 
however, combined with the impor- 
tance of engineering to nearly every 
aspect of modern technological life, 
engineering seems to be one of the 
most organized fields in terms of 
commitment to recruiting more girls 
and women. Female engineers organ- 
ize conferences, educational pro- 
grams, and professional support and 

mentoring networks, through organizations such as the SWE and the IEEE 
Women in Engineering network (http://www.ieee.org/web/membership/women/ 
index.html). Numerous programs exist for girls, students, parents, and educators, 
such as the Women in Engineering Proactive Network (http://wepan.org/), which 
is funded by the National Science Foundation and also produces a K-12 engineer- 
ing curriculum entitled "Making the Connection." A program called "Engineer 
Your Life" (http://www.engineeryourlife.org/) is targeted to high school girls, 
and "Engineer Girl" (http://www.engineergirl.org/) is a program of the National 
Academy of Sciences. 

See also Computer Sciences and Information Technology 



Computer scientist and biomedical engineer, 
Thelma Estrin. (Courtesy of UCLA Media 
Relations) 



References 

Bix, Amy Sue. 2006. "From 'Engineeresses' to 'Girl Engineers' to 'Good Engineers': A 
History of Women's U.S. Engineering Education." In Removing Barriers: Women in 
Academic Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, edited by Jill M. 
Bystydzienski and Sharon R. Bird, 46 65. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

Hatch, Sybil E. 2006. Changing Our World: True Stories of Women Engineers. Reston,VA: 
American Society of Civil Engineers. 

National Science Foundation. 2006. "Table H-19. Employed scientists and engineers, by 
sector of employment, broad occupation, sex, race/ethnicity, and disability status: 
2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. 
National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resource Statistics, Scientists and 



116 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT). http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/ 
tabh-19.pdf. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1995. Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 
1940 1972. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University. 

Stanley, Autumn. 1995. Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History 
of Technology. 2nd edition. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 

Trescott, Martha Moore. 1990. "Women in the Intellectual Development of Engineering: 
A Study in Persistence and Systems Thought." In Women of Science: Righting the 
Record, edited by G. Kass-Simon and Patricia Fames, 147 187. Bloomington: Indiana 
University Press. 



Environmental Sciences and Ecology 

Environmental sciences is a broad category of study related to understanding 
the natural and human environments and the interaction between the two. It 
encompasses a range of disciplines and research interests that overlap among the 
natural, physical, and social sciences. Scientists working on environmental and 
ecological or ecosystem studies come from a variety of fields, including animal 
sciences, botany or plant biology, human biology, evolutionary biology, chemistry, 
geography (human and physical), geology, engineering, meteorology, oceanogra- 
phy, physics, toxicology, and social sciences such as anthropology, economics, 
politics, and public health awareness and reform. 

Environmental science also informs business, government, and activist concerns. 
Interdisciplinary environmental studies and analyses are used in policymaking 
related to development, agriculture, and industrial waste management, and "green" 
business and lifestyles have become a major political issue and social mandate in 
recent years. These issues depend upon science to explain the reason or urgency 
for certain actions needed to offset or change the effect of humans on the environ- 
ment. Current issues involving environmental scientists include climate change 
(global warming), protecting endangered plant and animal species, agricultural 
practices and food supplies (global and local), conservation of nature, air and water 
pollution, deforestation, and industrial and chemical health hazards and standards. 

Ecology, or the study of ecosystems, is a subfield of environmental studies and 
refers specifically to the biological interactions and interdependency among living 
organisms or species (humans, animals, plants) and the natural or physical envi- 
ronment. Lynn Margulis is an evolutionary biologist who has put forth the "Gaia 
hypothesis," or the idea that the Earth itself is a living organism. Although more 
specifically a theoretical or even spiritual issue than a scientific pursuit, ecofemin- 
ism argues that the destruction of the Earth and the social subordination of women 



Disciplines | 117 



Women and Climate Change 

Global climate change (or global warming) is one of the biggest issues for scien- 
tists, politicians, and industry of the twenty-first century. Since the mid-twentieth 
century women scientists have been involved in efforts to track and slow climate 
change, including geologists, meteorologists, oceanographers and other environ- 
mental and physical scientists, and materials and chemical engineers involved in 
creating new "green" technologies. The environmental effects of global climate 
change may have a negative social and economic impact on women, in particular. 
Feminist economists and other social scientists have pointed out that, especially 
in developing areas of the world, drought, flooding, erosion, and deforestation, 
as well as natural disasters caused by climate change, can have a devastating 
impact on local agriculture, water availability, and women's health and economic 
survival. The gendered aspects of climate change have been addressed by the 
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and by global development, 
population and sustainability conferences since the 1990s, resulting in specific 
policy recommendation. 



are connected. Indeed, ecofeminism has sometimes been seen in opposition to 
science based on the idea that science is a "male" discipline with the goal of con- 
trolling or dominating nature for human use, whereas feminism promotes a "care- 
taker" role for humans in relation to the environment. 

Although we tend to think of environmentalism as a relatively new concept, and 
environmentalists as a highly politicized group, the United States has a long and 
solid history of environmental studies and science, and of efforts to protect nature 
and animals. In the nineteenth-century United States, industrial revolution, urbani- 
zation, and widespread immigration and migration all raised concerns about pollu- 
tion, destruction of the natural habitat, and the effect of human populations on the 
environment. Henry David Thoreau, in his 1854 book Walden and other writings, 
was one of the earliest American naturalists to lament humanity's disregard for 
nature's essential role in our physical as well as spiritual well-being. In the next 
generation, John Muir founded the Sierra Club and the twentieth-century conser- 
vation movement. By the early 1900s, politicians and reformers were taking notice 
and promoting conservation and protection of lands by setting aside state and 
national parks, such as Yosemite and Yellowstone. 

By the turn of the twentieth century, women with advanced degrees were focus- 
ing on environmental issues and hazards within a variety of different disciplines, 
many of them as botanists, biologists, and zoologists. Beginning in the late 
1800s, chemist Ellen Swallow Richards did some of the earliest research on 



I 18 I American Women of Science since 1900 



industrial pollution in the United States and, at the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology (MIT), taught some of the first college courses in environmental sci- 
ence. Emmeline Moore (who received her Ph.D. in 1914) was an early aquatic 
wildlife biologist who studied the effect of water pollution on freshwater fish; 
Moore later served as president of the American Fisheries Society. Plant patholo- 
gist Josephine Tilden held a master's degree (1897), and her research on algae 
led her to see the connections among algae, the larger ocean ecosystem, and 
human health. The plant catalogs created by botanist and ecologist Lucy Braun 
(who earned a Ph.D. in 1914 and was later the first woman president of the Eco- 
logical Society of America) were used in later conservation efforts to show the 
effect of mining on local plant life. 

In the 1920s and 1930s, the U.S. government began regulating business and 
industry to protect the environment as well as the health of workers and consum- 
ers. Toxicologist Alice Hamilton was one of the pioneers of occupational and 
environmental health studies, warning of the health hazards of unleaded gasoline 
and exposing safety issues for workers handling toxic chemicals and exposed to 
radiation. The spread of industrial factories and car culture by the 1950s gave rise 
to new levels of concern about the health hazards of smog and atmospheric and 

water pollution. Rachel Carson 
warned of the impact of humans on 
nature in her now-classic book, Silent 
Spring, first published in 1962. Paul 
and Anne Ehrlich published their 
highly controversial work, The Popula- 
tion Bomb, in 1968, warning that over- 
population would lead to a strain on 
Earth's natural resources and more 
human deaths. 

The government established the 
Environmental Protection Agency in 
1970, but several major industrial 
and nuclear accidents of the 1970s 
and 1980s, including Love Canal 
and Three Mile Island in the United 
States, and others internationally, 
had tragic effects on human health 
and resulted in increased activism 
and public environmental conscious- 
Doctor and reformer Alice Hamilton. (Library ness. Geraldine Cox received a 
of Congress) Ph.D. in environmental studies in 




Disciplines | 119 

1970 and has been involved in creating chemical industry policy guidelines for 
disaster management. Physician Helen Caldicott (Physicians for Social Respon- 
sibility) has warned of the short- and long-term effects of radiation and has led 
the way in her campaign against the development and use of nuclear energy. 
The burning oil fields in Kuwait during first Gulf War in the early 1990s, the 
Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, and the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil 
spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, brought new concerns about the devastating 
environmental and human costs of oil acquisition and production (through drilling 
or through war). By the end of the twentieth century a new "green" mentality had 
inspired not only a public imperative for individuals to reduce their "carbon foot- 
print," but for more scientific research and funding for alternative energies and 
technologies. The melting through of the polar ice cap, the designation of new 
endangered animal species due to habitat destruction, and the recognition that 
many "natural" disasters (hurricanes, mudslides, flooding) may be linked to human 
actions, have all influenced the U.S. government's scientific priorities. 

Women scientists work on environmental issues from a range of disciplinary 
perspectives, including chemistry and engineering. In the 1970s, Maxine Savitz, 
a chemist working in the U.S. Department of Energy, developed energy standards 
for heating and lighting buildings, new batteries, and fuel-efficient cars; Betsy 
Ancker- Johnson worked for many years on environmental policy at General 
Motors (GM), warning as early as the 1980s about the automotive industry's role 
in global climate change; Kathleen Taylor also worked at GM as a chemical 
expert on the development of catalytic converters to reduce emissions. Roberta 
Nichols, an engineer for Ford Motor Company, led the industry in developing 
alternate fuels for vehicles as well as designing vehicles that are more energy- 
efficient, and Elizabeth Gross is a biochemist who has researched photovoltaic 
cells, or "living batteries," to convert sunlight directly into electricity to preserve 
fossil fuels and reduce pollution. Chemist Joan Berkowitz is an internationally 
known expert on environmental hazards, and Susan Solomon confirmed that the 
chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) in air conditioners, aerosol sprays, and refrigerators 
were contributing to the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, leading to a 
global effort to regulate and reduce use of those products. 

Other environmental scientists are biologists, zoologists, botanists, and natural- 
ists focused on animals and plants and their habitats. Mollie Beattie, as director 
of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was responsible for enforcing the Endan- 
gered Species Act in the United States. Cynthia Moss and Joyce Poole are 
zoologists who were active in having the African elephant declared endangered 
when the illegal trade in elephant tusks was decimating the herds. Continuing the 
environmental-naturalist connection of the nineteenth century, Anne LaBastille 
is a naturalist who has worked to preserve the wildlife habitat of many bird species, 



120 | American Women of Science since 1900 

and Marcia Bonta is a nature writer who has written extensively on the environ- 
ment and on the history of women's roles as naturalists. Inspired in environmental 
science by her famous conservationist father, Aldo Leopold, Estella Leopold 
became a specialist in paleoecology, or the study of prehistoric organisms and their 
environments. 

Geologists and geographers also add a unique perspective to the study of the 
Earth's environments and ecosystems. Pamela Matson earned a degree in forest 
ecology and researches the role of land-use changes on global warming. Ruth 
DeFries is an environmental geographer who uses global satellite images to 
understand the impact of human activities, such as agriculture and development, 
on the physical environment. Jane Lubchenco is a marine ecologist and geologist 
who specialized in ocean ecosystems and global climate change; in 2009, she was 
appointed head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 
Women environmental scientists working within a variety of interdisciplinary 
frameworks are represented professionally by organizations for earth scientists in 
general, such as the Association for Women Geoscientists (http://awg.org). Other 
groups bring together scientists and professionals in other fields, such as business 
and law, around environmental concerns, such as the Women's Environmental 
Council (http://www.wecweb.org) and the Society of Women Environmental 
Professionals (http://swepweb.com/). 

See also Biology; Biomedical Sciences; Botany; Geography; Geology; 
Ocean Sciences 

References 

Bonta, Marcia Myers. 1991. Women in the Field: America 's Pioneering Women Naturalists. 
College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 

Bonta, Marcia Myers. 1995. American Women Afield: Writings by Pioneering Women 
Naturalists. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 

Holmes, Madelyn. 2004. American Women Conservationists: Twelve Profiles. Jefferson, 
NC, McFarland. 

Kaufman, Polly Welts. 2006. National Parks and the Woman 's Voice: A History. Albuquerque: 
University of New Mexico Press. 

Norwood, Vera. 1993. Made from This Earth: American Women and Nature. Chapel Hill: 
University of North Carolina Press. 

Perry, Ruth. 2009. "Engendering Environmental Thinking: A Feminist Analysis of the 
Present Crisis." In Women, Science, and Technology: A Reader in Feminist Science 
Studies, 2nd ed., edited by Mary Wyer et al., 312 321. New York: Routledge. 

Stein, Rachel, ed. 2004. New Perspectives on Environmental Justice: Gender, Sexuality, 
and Activism. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers. 



Disciplines | 121 



Genetics 



Genetics is a branch or subfield of biology and is focused on the scientific study of 
heredity or inherited traits through analysis of information stored in DNA (deoxyri- 
bonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), genes, and chromosomes, whether in 
humans, animals, or plants. Genetics provides insight into the most basic level of 
cell functioning and explains many aspects of human biology. Genetics is a fairly 
recent scientific discovery and one in which knowledge advanced rapidly over the 
course of the twentieth century. The concept of genetics was first discovered in 
agricultural experiments with the breeding and hybridization of plants. In the 
mid-nineteenth century, Austrian botanist Gregor Mendel isolated single-gene 
hereditary traits in pea plants. It took several more decades, however, for scientists 
to realize fully the implications of Mendel's findings, especially the applicability 
to human genetics. Charles Darwin's theories of evolution and species adaptability 
were the next leap in scientific understanding of heredity. 

Many scientists and physicians subsequently promoted theories of inherited 
traits and behaviors that often had little to do with actual science and more to do 
with social agendas. For example, the belief that certain personality traits, inter- 
ests, or even criminal behaviors could 
be inherited informed eugenics policy 
well into the twentieth century, result- 
ing in the involuntary sterilization of 
criminals or others deemed deviant in 
an attempt to stop them from passing 
those undesirable social behaviors, 
through their genes, on to the next 
generation. By the 1950s, genetics sci- 
ence was used to promote a new set of 
social policies, including premarital 
counseling and blood testing to ensure 
genetic compatibility (Kline 2001). 

Technology (such as the micro- 
scope) made possible the discovery 
of the cell and, in the early twentieth 
century, the discovery that genes are 
located on chromosomes. Around 
1905, Nettie Stevens discovered that 
sex was a genetic factor and was 

determined by chromosomes. At the Biochemist and geneticist, Maxine Singer. 
time, she was working at Bryn Mawr (National Library of Medicine) 




122 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Human Genome Project and DNA Testing 

The mapping of human genes has social and health implications for the lives of 
women worldwide. The international government-sponsored Human Genome 
Project (HGP) was begun in the 1990s and scientists had mapped more than 
20,000 human genes by 2003. Originally a project of the National Institutes of 
Health, research on the human genome sequence was conducted at scientific 
research centers and universities in several countries. The information collected 
in the HGP has already had implications for the direction of research on known 
hereditary diseases and has inspired the search for possible genetic links to dis- 
eases such as breast cancer. Advances in DNA testing have also made it easier 
to screen the fetus for certain diseases during pregnancy and for the development 
of more accurate testing methods for conditions such as diabetes or HIV/AIDS. 
Besides health and medical research, DNA testing also has social implications 
for women and families, through paternity testing or criminal investigations. In 
the twenty-first century, women are involved in both scientific research and con- 
sumer interest in developing further uses for DNA testing and gene research. 



with her professor, Edmund Beecher Wilson, who is credited with the discovery 
that chromosomes carry genes. In the 1940s, scientists confirmed that DNA (not 
proteins) carried hereditary information, and the double-helix structure of DNA 
was explained in the 1950s. By the 1980s, scientists could reproduce DNA in the 
laboratory, and computers allowed DNA mapping and sequencing, a new field 
called genomics. The Human Genome Project (HGP), a complete mapping of the 
more than 20,000 human genes, began in 1990 and was completed in 2003. The 
HGP allows biologists to study the particular sequences of genes for research into 
human evolution and disease characteristics. Maxine Singer is a leading figure in 
human genetics, and her laboratory helped to decipher the genetic code. 

The study of genetics also informs our understanding of the effect of environ- 
ment on human biology and health — that is, allowing scientists to determine 
which traits or predispositions to certain diseases are encoded in our DNA, which 
are the results of mutations, and the effects of our environment (health, diet, stress, 
etc.) on chromosomes. Reducing human life to the genetic level, however, also 
raises ethical concerns. For example, prenatal genetic testing has become an 
important tool in screening for certain diseases or conditions, but is this knowledge 
used to justify ending a pregnancy or to risk treating a disease before it appears? 
And, armed with such knowledge, who gets to make such decisions? DNA testing 
is also now routinely used in criminal prosecutions and even in historical research. 
Despite the rapid advancement of genetics as a field of inquiry, some scientists, 



Disciplines | 123 



Nettie Stevens 

Geneticist Nettie Maria Stevens (1861-1912) was one of the first researchers to 
demonstrate that sex was determined by a particular chromosome. Prior to her 
research, most biologists thought that external influences such as food and tem- 
perature determined the sex of offspring. She was the first person to establish that 
chromosomes exist as paired structures in body cells and the first to ascertain that 
certain insects have supernumerary chromosomes. Although she received recog- 
nition for her work during her lifetime, many textbooks attribute the discovery of the 
XY sex chromosome system to her contemporary, Edmund B. Wilson, a Columbia 
University biologist who made the simultaneous discovery in 1905. 

Stevens received two degrees from Stanford University and studied at the 
Naples Zoological Station and at the University of Wurzburg. She received her 
doctorate from Bryn Mawr in 1903, where she continued on as a research fellow 
in biology and an associate in experimental morphology. Although she had a short 
research career, she published nearly 40 scientific papers and made an impact on 
the fields of genetics and embryology. 



such as Evelyn Fox Keller and Anne Fausto-Sterling, have been critical or at 
least skeptical of the emphasis on and direction of genetic research. In her contro- 
versial 1993 book Exploding the Gene Myth, Ruth Hubbard warned that an over- 
reliance upon genetic information may skew scientific research priorities and 
create ethical dilemmas in medical care, health insurance, reproductive rights, 
criminal justice, and environmental science. Other feminists have been concerned 
about the use of genetics to explain sexual orientation. 

Genetics is a field of some of the most astounding and significant scientific 
discoveries of the last century, many of them conducted by women scientists. In the 
1950s, British crystallographer Rosalind Franklin discovered that the DNA molecule 
was in the shape of a double helix, or two intertwining coils. She created an X-ray 
image of the helix, from which James Watson and Francis Crick built the model that 
would earn them the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962, four years after 
Franklin's death. There have been at least 19 Nobel Prize winners in work related to 
genetics, including American Barbara McClintock, who won the Nobel Prize in 
Physiology or Medicine in 1983 for her work on maize (corn) genetics. McClintock 
spent 40 years studying mutation in kernels of maize, and discovered transposable or 
"jumping" genes that move from one chromosome to another. Virginia Walbot 
worked with McClintock and conducted her own research on transposable genes. 

Genetic researchers may study humans, animals, or plants, all of which may 
inform and have implications for biomedical research on human health and 



124 | American Women of Science since 1900 

diseases. Other women scientists who have conducted research in plant genetics 
include Jane Rissler on bioengineered plants, Sharon Long on the genetics of 
legumes, Nina Fedoroff, who replicated McClintock's experiments on maize 
and found transposable elements in other plants, and Mary-Dell Chilton and 
Marjorie Hoy on the genetic engineering of agricultural crops. Mary Lou Pardue 
was known for her work in insect genetics, Margaret Kidwell studied the transfer 
of genes in fruit flies, informing biologists' understanding of species evolution, and 
Judith Kimble is an animal geneticist whose work on nematodes (or unsegmented 
worms) has implications for human embryology and genetics. Helen Dean King's 
research on heredity involved breeding pure generations of rats to be used in labo- 
ratory experiments; Elizabeth Russell also bred mice for her genetic studies on 
various hereditary diseases such as anemia, muscular dystrophy, and cancer. 

Medical genetics has perhaps received the most attention, holding out promises 
for new understandings of and genetic therapies for diseases. Madge Macklin was 
one of the earliest medical geneticists (she received her M.D. in 1919) who 
focused on clinical practice and realized the importance of doctors taking into 
account a patient's family history for understanding certain hereditary diseases. 
Elizabeth Neufeld is an international authority on human genetic diseases, and 
Mary-Claire King is renowned for her research on breast cancer; in the 1990s 
King determined the existence of the gene BRCA1, which, if damaged, can predis- 
pose women to breast and ovarian cancer. Psychologist Nancy Wexler led the 
search to identify the gene that causes Huntington's disease, an inherited debilitat- 
ing disease that strikes in middle age. Mathilde Krim is a geneticist and virologist 
researching cancer, tuberculosis, and HIV/ AIDS. Ruth Sager studied nonchromo- 
somal mammalian cell genetics, also with implications for understanding cancer 
and tumor growth, and hematologist Eloise Giblett researched gene therapy for 
certain inherited immune deficiencies. 

See also Biology; Biomedical Sciences; Chemistry; Crystallography; 
Medicine 

References 

Fedoroff, Nina V. and David Botstein. 1992. The Dynamic Genome: Barbara McClintock's 
Ideas in the Century of Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Labora- 
tory Press. 

Keller, Evelyn Fox. 2002. The Century of the Gene. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 

Kline, Wendy. 2001. Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics from the 
Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom. Berkeley: University of California Press. 

Marteau, Theresa and Martin Richards, eds. 1996. The Troubled Helix: Social and 
Psychological Implications of the New Human Genetics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge 
University Press. 



Disciplines | 125 



Geography 



Geography is the study of the Earth and its natural and human environments. There 
are two major fields within geography: physical geography and human geography. 
Physical geography is the study of the Earth's landforms, physical features, and 
natural phenomena. Human geography is the study of human spaces, including 
land use and built environments for social, political, and religious reasons. Femi- 
nist geography is one approach to the study of human geography and focuses on 
how gender, family life, and sexuality, for example, impact the use and distribution 
of space. This subfield has its own journal, Gender, Place, & Culture: A Journal of 
Feminist Geography. As the study of human uses of land and space, human geogra- 
phy has implications for a variety of nonscientific industries and policymaking, 
including urban planning, architecture, transportation, agricultural development, 
healthcare, and business. Human geography therefore includes the methods and 
tools of the natural sciences and social sciences, such as economics, sociology, 
anthropology, and politics. 

Physical geography is one of the earth sciences and may include all areas of study 
of the planet. Geographers study the Earth's inner core and layers, the Earth's surface 
and land formations (such as mountains, volcanoes, canyons, and forests), the physi- 
cal features of the Earth's environments and ecosystems (soil, water, climate, vegeta- 
tion), and the relationships among the Earth's surface, environments, and immediate 
atmosphere. The primary focus of physical geography, then, is on the features and 
physical processes of our planet; as such, geography is highly interdisciplinary. 
Geographers work both in the field and in the laboratory creating computer models 
and analyses. They may need scientific backgrounds in (or work within) fields such 
as biology, chemistry, glaciology, geodesy, mathematics, meteorology, ocean sci- 
ences, and environmental sciences. Geographical research is one of the foundations 
of environmental studies on climate change (global warming); deforestation and hab- 
itat destruction; forest, water, and other natural-resource management; pollution; and 
soil erosion and flooding, among other issues. 

Early-twentieth-century women geographers worked in a variety of situations 
as government clerks, editors, librarians, field scientists, and teachers of secondary 
school and college. Zonia Baber was one of the earliest women geographers, and 
a pioneer in creating geography curricula; she held a bachelor's degree and taught 
geology and geography at the University of Chicago in the early 1900s. Ellen 
Churchill Semple was another early woman geographer who wrote on human 
geography and history; in 1921, she was the first female president of the Associa- 
tion of American Geographers. Many early women geographers concentrated on 
fieldwork and exploration, and faced similar obstacles to those faced by women 
working in other field studies such as geology, archaeology, or paleontology. 



126 | American Women of Science since 1900 




Environmental geographer Ruth Defries. 
(Courtesy of Sandy Schaeffer, University 
Publications, University of Maryland) 



Louise Boyd was not trained as a 
scientist, but she personally funded 
several explorations of the Arctic 
region, creating some of the earliest 
maps, photographs, and records of 
the region; she represented the United 
States at the 1934 International 
Geographical Congress. 

Modern geographers work on cre- 
ating mathematical and computer 
models for problems in both physi- 
cal and human geography. Irene 
Fischer was a renowned mathemati- 
cian and geodesist; geodesy is the 
measurement of the shape and size 
of the Earth and requires measure- 
ment of large tracts of land, mapping 
the exact positions of geographical 
points, and determining the curva- 
ture, shape, and dimensions of the 
Earth. Fischer worked for the U.S. Army's Defense Mapping Agency Topo- 
graphic Center and later provided the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA) with precise topographical data on both the Earth and 
the seas in order to plan and execute experimental flights. Gwen Bell studied 
urban planning and computers for her doctorate in geography, and was known 
for creating an early computerized geographic mapping system, and Ruth 
DeFries is an environmental geographer who studies the effect of humans 
(through agriculture, urbanization, and carbon emissions) on the Earth's habitats 
and ecosystems. 

As in many scientific fields, the numbers of women receiving doctorates in 
geography was relatively stable until the 1970s and 1980s, and has increased 
significantly since then (Monk 2004). Women in geography receive professional 
support and resources from organizations such as the group Supporting Women 
in Geography (http://www.geography.wisc.edu/swig/index.htm) and from broader 
professional societies within the earth sciences, such as the Association for 
Women Geoscientists (http://www.awg.org). 

See also Economics; Environmental Sciences and Ecology; Geology; 
Meteorology; Ocean Sciences; Sociology 



Disciplines | 127 

References 

Monk, Janice. 2004. "Women, Gender, and the Histories of American Geography." Annals 
of the Association of American Geographers. 94(1): 1 22. (March 2004). 

"Women in Geography History, Events, and What We Do." Supporting Women in Geog- 
raphy (SWIG), http://www.geography.wisc.edu/swig/geography.htm. 



Geology 

Geology is the study of the Earth's physical materials, and their history, formation, 
processes, and uses. Geological subfields include petrology (the study of rocks), 
stratigraphy (the study of sedimentary layers), and structural geology (the study 
of land formations), and their work may include paleontology (the study of 
fossils), and the study of glaciers and ice. There are also planetary geologists 
who study the surface structure and formation of other planets besides Earth. 
Geologists have many tools, methods, and areas of focus, including various types 
of mapping, field observation, underground radar and electrical sensing, drilling, 
and biological and chemical analysis. Their research may support a variety of 
nonacademic interests in the identification and extraction of resources such as 
minerals, petroleum products, coal, natural gas, and water. Their work also has 
implications for civil engineering and for emergency planning through the study 
of natural disasters such as earthquakes, avalanches, volcanoes, and landslides. 
Finally, geological research has implications for and supports work and policy 
issues related to global climate change. 

Ancient explorers and philosophers were interested in collecting and classifying 
types of rocks, minerals, and metals. By the early eleventh century, geologists in 
the Islamic world and in China were formulating theories on the former submer- 
gence of continents under the sea, on the formation of mountains and other land- 
forms, and on the origins of earthquakes, based on the discovery of different rock 
layers (strata) and on observations on the diversity of the Earth's terrain. The age 
of European exploration brought new geographical and geological information 
through mapmaking and through economic activities such as mining. James Hutton 
published his Theory of the Earth in 1795, and, along with major fossil discoveries 
of the early nineteenth century, set off a new course of geological studies devoted to 
establishing the age of the Earth based on rock formation and layers. Hutton (and, a 
few years later, Charles Lyell in his Principles of Geology) promoted the idea that 
the Earth is constantly changing, challenging the biblical version of geological 
events in which the Earth was formed via a single event and remains unchanged 



128 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Mary Lyell 

Mary Elizabeth Horner Lyell (1808-1873) was an English naturalist and geologist 
who specialized in conchology, or the study of shells. She was married to Charles 
Lyell, the founder of modern geological science, whose book, Principles of Geology 
(1830-1833), established that the Earth itself had a history, an idea that directly 
influenced the theory of evolution made famous by their contemporary, Charles 
Darwin. Lyell made a further contribution to the theory of human evolution with 
his work on Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man (1 863). 

Mary Lyell received a thorough education in the sciences; her father was a 
professor of geology and her sister became a botanist. Like other nineteenth- 
century professional wives (such as her friend, Elizabeth Agassiz), Mary's contri- 
bution to her husband's scientific endeavors and publications is acknowledged 
as central, but difficult to measure. The Lyells traveled together on geological 
expeditions throughout Europe and North America, with Mary collecting and cata- 
loging fossil and rock specimens. She read several European languages and 
assisted her husband in translating and reading scientific papers, and in corre- 
sponding with other scientists around the world. Charles Lyell supported the par- 
ticipation of other women in scientific circles by insisting that women be allowed 
to attend his lectures, and Mary Lyell regularly attended meetings of the London 
Geological Society. 



from its origins. By the mid-nineteenth century, the works of Charles Darwin sup- 
ported the idea of a changing Earth and became the standard for scientific knowl- 
edge in the geosciences. In the twentieth century, the discovery of plate tectonics 
confirmed the movement of the continents, and new technologies have allowed 
for geological study of the ocean floor, carbon dating of rocks and fossils, seismo- 
logical understanding and even prediction of earthquakes, and computer modeling 
of the Earth's different layers. 

Geology is a subfield or specialty within earth sciences. Women earned only 4% 
of earth science doctorates between 1920 and 1970 (Aldrich 1990, 64). Even as 
access to higher education expanded, it was difficult for women to find jobs and, 
when they were hired, they received lower pay than their male colleagues. By 
2001, women were earning nearly 40% of bachelor's degrees in the geosciences, 
which includes all earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences; this figure was up from 
about 25% to 30% ten years earlier. Women earn a similar percentage of graduate 
degrees, although the actual numbers of doctorates granted in the field is quite 
small, with only about 250 women earning Ph.D.s in the geosciences in 2003. 
Despite gains over the past decade, however, women geoscientists are still glar- 
ingly underrepresented at higher faculty levels, as is the case across the sciences. 



Disciplines | 129 

In the 2004-2005 academic year, women made up 26% of assistant professors, but 
only 8% of full professors in the geosciences. The numbers of minority women in 
the geosciences is also disproportionately low; for example, only 107 African 
Americans (and only 30 African American women) earned a doctorate in geosci- 
ences in the 30-year period between 1973 and 2003 (AWG 2005). 

As in physical geography, ocean sciences, or environmental studies, geology 
requires both field and laboratory work, addressing both theoretical and practical 
problems and applications. In the United States, geology was one of the founda- 
tions of all American science and was important for the exploration and utilization 
of newly discovered regions and natural resources. In the nineteenth century, 
women were prominent as collectors of rocks, minerals, and fossils, as illustrators 
and recorders of natural history, and as creators of topographical maps. Early 
women geologists were trained and employed at the women's colleges, at secon- 
dary schools, in museums, and in government field stations. One of the earliest 
women to earn a doctorate in geology was Mary Emilie Holmes, who earned her 
Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1888 and was the first female member 
of the Geological Society of America. Florence Bascom received her Ph.D. in 
geology from Johns Hopkins in 1893 and is considered the first female professional 
geologist. Bascom was a petrologist who was one of the first scientists to use the 
microscope to study mineral crystals and was also the first woman scientist hired 
at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which was established in 1879. Bascom 
built the department of geology at Bryn Mawr and trained several other early 
women geologists who went on to get their doctorates at other institutions, includ- 
ing Ida Ogilvie (Ph.D., Columbia, 1903), Julia Gardner (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 
191 1), and Eleanora Bliss Knopf (Ph.D., Berkeley, 1912). Both Knopf (a petrolo- 
gist) and Gardner (a paleogeologist who studied shell fossils and created maps of 
Pacific islands) also worked for the USGS. Gardner later served as president of 
the Paleontological Society in 1952; Winifred Goldring had been the first female 
president of that organization just a few years earlier, in 1949. 

Geologists have worked closely with paleontologists and other scientists to 
uncover the history of the Earth and its inhabitants through the sedimentary and 
fossil record. Christina Lochman-Balk researched invertebrate fossils and sev- 
eral women were heavily involved in the research project begun by Nobel Prize- 
winning physicist Luis Alvarez to determine whether a meteor was responsible 
for the disappearance of dinosaurs from the Earth. Nuclear chemist Helen Michel 
conducted analyses of specimens from the sedimentary record believed to be 
evidence of the meteor; planetary geologist Adriana Ocampo worked for the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) when she helped confirm 
the location of the crater created by the meteor, which was found under the sea; 
and Susan Kieffer, an expert on volcanoes and crater impacts on other planets, 



130 | American Women of Science since 1900 

advised the team on the characteristics of a crater site and on the possible trajec- 
tory of the asteroid. Astronomer Lucy- Ann McFadden was the principal investi- 
gator for NASA's planetary geology program, and Ursula Marvin is a planetary 
geologist who studies lunar rocks and meteorites. 

Other women geologists have been explorers, chemists, physicists, and ocean 
scientists, conducting research for a variety of government and industrial projects. 
Katharine Fowler-Billings was an explorer and field geologist beginning in the 
1930s and 1940s who conducted mineral expeditions throughout North America 
and on the Gold Coast of Africa. Gisela Dreschhoff is a geophysicist of the polar 
regions who conducted surveys in Antarctica to locate radioactive materials such 
as uranium. Delia Roy is a geochemist who studies the properties of materials 
for different uses (the mineral dellaite is named for her), and Alexandra Navrotsky 
is a geochemist who researches the composition and thermal chemistry of the 
Earth. Mary Lou Zoback is a geophysicist who specializes in plate tectonics 
and earthquake fault lines. 

Others interested in plate tectonics and seismology have focused on the geology 
and geography of the ocean floor. Elizabeth Bunce was a geophysicist who spent 
a long career at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution studying marine seismol- 
ogy and underwater acoustics. Marie Tharp studied underwater geology and cre- 
ated some of the first maps of the ocean floor, including her discovery of the valley 
that divides the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Marcia McNutt also mapped and measured 
the depth of the sea floor and researched plate tectonics; McNutt was the director 
of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute until 2009, when she was 
named the first female head of USGS. 

The American Society of Geologists and Naturalists was formed in the 1840s 
and was one of the scientific organizations subsumed under the new American 
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). As it has application to a 
wide range of scientific pursuits and discoveries, geology is included within the 
same professional societies and academic departments as geography, geochemis- 
try, geophysics, and other earth sciences. Scientific organizations include the 
Geological Society of America (http://www.geosociety.org), which in 2008, for 
first time ever, had both a woman president (Judith Parrish) and vice president 
(hydrogeologist Jean Bahr), and the American Geological Union (http://www 
.agu.org), a cross-disciplinary organization that includes earth, ocean, atmos- 
pheric, and planetary geology. Additionally, women scientists are represented 
through the Association for Women Geoscientists (http://www.awg.org), which 
was founded in 1977, and specialty groups such as the Association of Women Soil 
Scientists (http://www.awss.org). 

See also Astronomy and Astrophysics; Environmental Sciences and 
Ecology; Geography; Paleontology; Ocean Sciences 



Disciplines | 131 

References 

Aldrich, Michele L. 1990. "Women in Geology." In Women of Science: Righting the 
Record, edited by G. Kass-Simon and Patricia Fames, 42 70. Bloomington: Indiana 
University Press. 

Association for Women Geoscientists (AWG). "AWG is Committed to Gender Equity in 
the Geosciences." (February 2005). http://www.awg.org/gendereq.html. 

Burek, Cynthia V. and Bettie Higgs. 2007. The Role of Women in the History of Geology. 
London, UK: Geological Society of London. 

Home Economics 

See Economics; Nutrition and Home Economics 



Mathematics 

Mathematics is the theory and application of using numbers and symbols in calcu- 
lating measurements, spatial relationships, shapes, and patterns. Since ancient 
times, humans have had practical or economic reasons for establishing systems 
for counting, recording, and calculating physical objects. Humans also had an 
early need for creating abstract concepts, such as time and seasons, necessary, 
for example, in agriculture. Mathematics also provides the theoretical foundation 
and rules of logic for many scientific principles and rules and thus is the founda- 
tion of the natural sciences (physics, chemistry, astronomy) and applied sciences 
(computer sciences and engineering), as well as the social sciences (economics). 
Although scientists in these various fields must have strong backgrounds in 
applied mathematics, many mathematicians work in pure mathematics, or the 
study and development of mathematical principles for their own sake, without 
application. In most cases, mathematics is therefore related to, but still seen as sep- 
arate from, work in the sciences. For example, to speak of education and work in 
STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields clearly sepa- 
rates out the distinct realms of each. 

The perception that math is somehow different or more "pure" than the other 
sciences has had implications for the status of women in the field. Math, like phys- 
ics, is at the top of the science hierarchy, and the belief that success in mathematics 
is based on pure talent or "genius" (rather than education) has been used to explain 
the underrepresentation of women in higher-level mathematics. This belief has 
implications for the education of girls and women beginning in the elementary 
years, when girls are not expected to show an interest in or talent for math. Begin- 
ning in the 1970s and 1980s, feminist reformers pushed for more attention to the 



132 | American Women of Science since 1900 





math education of girls, and the elimi- 
nation of gender bias in the classroom 
and in testing, recognizing that early 
math education is the foundation for 
women's later career choices and 
success in a variety of science, engi- 
neering, and medical fields. Still, even 
as women's presence in the field 
increased throughout the twentieth 
century, the assumptions and attitudes 
about women's mathematical interests 
and abilities continued. In perhaps no 

r^r ^^^ other scientific field has the debate 

H about differences of ability been so 
centered on gender, and the issue has 
>* engaged scientists in other fields. From 
neuroscientists to reproductive biolo- 
y gists to psychologists, scientists want 

to know if math ability (defined as 
logic or spatial reasoning) is somehow 
related to the structure of our brains, 
to sex hormones, or genetics, or if it is 
entirely explained by education and 
social expectations (Henrion 1997; 
Dweck 2007). 
The history of American women's presence in higher-level mathematics 
follows that of other sciences. Women benefited from the expansion of educational 
and professional opportunities in the late nineteenth century, and then faced a 
backlash and retrenchment of opportunities in the mid-twentieth century. Winifred 
Edgerton was the first American woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics, 
receiving her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1886. Other early women math- 
ematicians included Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 
1910) and Olive Hazlett (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1915). The low point of 
women's representation in the field was the 1950s and 1960s. Between 1947 and 
1961, women earned just 5.53% of mathematics doctorates (Rossiter 1995, 80). 
Still, some women of this generation stood out for their mathematical contribu- 
tions in the post- World War II era. Grace Hopper and Margaret Butler both 
worked on the early military and government development of digital computers; 
Mina Rees also worked on military applications for jet rocket propulsion and 
high-speed computers after World War II; Evelyn Boyd Granville was one of 



Mathematician Grace Hopper was an early 
computer programmer who helped develop 
the COBOL language. (U.S. Department of 
Defense) 



Disciplines | 133 



Emmy Noether 

German mathematician (Amalie) Emmy Noether (1882-1935) is considered one 
of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century. She was one of the 
earliest figures in twentieth-century theoretical physics, devising mathematical 
theorems for several concepts later found in Einstein's general theory of relativity 
and writing numerous technical papers on abstract algebra. As the University of 
Erlangen (where her father was a mathematics professor) did not accept female 
students until 1904, she attended the University of Gottingen before returning to 
Erlangen to receive her Ph.D. in 1907. She worked as an unpaid lecturer at 
Erlangen until 1915 and held only an honorary position at Gottingen, although 
she did eventually earn a small salary as a lecturer. It was difficult enough for a 
woman to find regular university employment at that time, but in 1933, she and 
the other Jewish faculty members were dismissed from their positions under Nazi 
rule. She emigrated to the United States, where she had several employment 
offers, and accepted a position at Bryn Mawr College under a grant from the 
Rockefeller Foundation. She also lectured and conducted research at the Institute 
for Advanced Study at Princeton University but died in 1935, just two years after 
arriving in the United States. 



the first black women to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics (from Yale in 1949) and 
worked for private industry in support of National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA) space missions. Gertrude Cox was president of the 
American Statistical Association in 1956 and the Biometric Society in 1969. 

After the 1970s, the influence of feminism, and new attention to early math edu- 
cation, brought a push for gender equity in education, recruitment, and retention of 
women in mathematics. By 2006, women earned 45% of bachelor's degrees in 
mathematics and statistics and 29.6% of Ph.D.s. This was a greater representation 
than in related fields such as physics (in which women earned only 16.6% of doc- 
torates), engineering (20.2%), or computer sciences (21.3%) (NSF Table F-2); 
at the same time, women made up a little more than 27% of doctoral-level employed 
mathematicians (NSF Table H-7). Thus, despite the sense that mathematics is still 
more heavily male-dominated than some other fields, the numbers of women with 
doctorates and employed in mathematics fields are actually consistent with women's 
representation throughout science, technology, and engineering fields; in some cases, 
their representation is greater than in comparable fields, such as physics. 

Mathematicians work in academic research and teaching, as well as in a variety 
of applied settings for business, industry, medicine, and government. Persons with 
mathematical training and education may work as economists, statisticians, 



134 | American Women of Science since 1900 

computer scientists, and engineers. Joan Rosenblatt worked as a statistician estab- 
lishing unified units of measurement for the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology. Irene Fischer had a background in mathematics and worked as an 
earth scientist in the field of geodesy, the measurement of the size and shape of 
the Earth. Rosalie Bertell was a pioneer in the field of biomathematics, using 
mathematical theory and probability studies to assess biomedical risks including 
risks from radiation; before her, Hilda Geiringer (Von Mises) had also been inter- 
ested in applying mathematical theory to genetics and other bio-information. 
Others were renowned as educators. Grace Bates was a teacher who contributed 
several papers on algebra and probability theory to technical journals and was the 
co-author of two books. Edith Luchins pioneered the field of mathematical 
psychology and focused on the role of gender in learning and teaching mathematics. 

Others have worked primarily in mathematical theory, such as Mary Ellen Rudin 
on abstract geometry, and even theoretical physics, such as Karen Uhlenbeck and 
Marian Pour-El. Carol Karp introduced new symbols to the theory of infinitary 
logic. Julia Robinson developed a hypothesis for solving an equation proposed in 
1900 and known as "Hilbert's Tenth Problem"; a Russian mathematician solved the 
equation based on Robinson's hypothesis. Olga Taussky-Todd — known for her 
work in algebraic number theory and matrix theory, which she helped popularize — 
was founding editor of the journal Linear Algebra and Its Applications. Academic 
mathematician Cathleen Morawetz became the first female director of the Courant 
Institute of Mathematical Science at New York University. Female mathematicians 
are represented through professional organizations such as the Association for 
Women in Mathematics (http://www.awm-math.org). 

See also Computer Sciences and Information Technology; Engineering; 
Physics 

References 

Case, Bettye Anne and Anne M. Leggett. 2005. Complexities: Women in Mathematics. 
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 

Dweck, Carol S. 2007. "Is Math a Gift? Beliefs That Put Females at Risk." In Why Aren't 
More Women in Science?: Top Researchers Debate the Evidence, edited by Stephen J. 
Ceci and Wendy M. Williams, 47 55. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological 
Association. 

Henrion, Claudia. 1997. Women in Mathematics: The Addition of Difference. Bloomington: 
Indiana University Press. 

Kenschaft, Patricia Clark. 2005. Change Is Possible: Stories of Women and Minorities in 
Mathematics. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society. 

Murray, Margaret Anne Marie. 2000. Women Becoming Mathematicians: Creating a 
Professional Identity in Post World War II America. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 



Disciplines | 135 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-2. S&E doctoral degrees awarded to women, by 
field: 1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and 
Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, 
Survey of Earned Doctorates, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/ 
tabf-2.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. 2006. "Table H-7. Employed scientists and engineers, by 
occupation, highest degree level, race/ethnicity, and sex: 2006." Women, Minorities, 
and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. National Science Founda- 
tion, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data 
System (SESTAT). http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabh-7.pdf. 

Rossiter, Margaret W. 1995. Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 
1940 1972. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University. 

Medicine 

While some individuals may be trained in biomedical or health research fields, medi- 
cine here refers to the clinical practice of treating patients as physicians, surgeons, or 
other medical practitioners. Physicians focus on health maintenance as well as the 
prevention and treatment of illness and disease. Medical doctors (those with an 
M.D. degree) do not work alone, however, and usually oversee a team of other 
healthcare professionals. These may include nurses, physician's assistants, labora- 
tory scientists, physical therapists, pharmacologists, anesthesiologists, radiation 
technicians, or other specialists specific to the needs and conditions of individual 
patients. All medical doctors receive basic scientific training in biology, anatomy, 
physiology, pharmacology, and pathology as tools for diagnosing and treating illness 
or disease. Physicians also typically specialize, either by patient group (gerontology, 
pediatrics, women's health), by organ or system (dermatology, urology, pulmonol- 
ogy), or as surgeons, general or further specialized. Women work throughout the 
medical profession as doctors and in these other positions, and may be employed in 
private practice, in group offices or hospitals, or in government and the military. 

The care and treatment of the sick has traditionally been the role of women, and 
throughout history, women developed specialized knowledge about herbal medi- 
cines, palliative treatments, and specific areas of assistance, such as midwifery. 
In the United States, the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries brought 
the first professional medical schools, and the American Medical Association 
(http://www.ama-assn.org) was founded in 1847; the AMA did not admit its first 
female member until 30 years later, in 1876. Despite the barriers to advanced edu- 
cation and professional affiliation, women made great strides in medicine in the 
nineteenth century. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to earn a medical 
degree, from Geneva Medical College in New York in 1849. A few years later, 



136 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Florence Nightingale 

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was an English nurse renowned for her work 
with injured soldiers during the Crimean War of the 1 850s. Her name became syn- 
onymous with women's self-sacrificing care of the sick and injured, but she helped 
establish nursing as a serious profession for women. As a teenager, she decided 
(against her parents' wishes) to pursue a career in medicine, eventually securing a 
position at a women's hospital in London. After hearing reports of the horrifying 
conditions on the battlefront, in 1854, Nightingale volunteered to lead a group of 
nurses to the main British camp in Crimea, near Turkey. Patients were dying in 
greater numbers from infections, poor nutrition, and contagious diseases than 
from battle wounds, and she set up a plan not only for medical care but for sanitiz- 
ing the wards and improving ventilation. She herself became ill and was forced to 
return to England in 1856, but remained committed to public health and hygiene 
issues and to nursing education throughout her life. She published her founda- 
tional text, Notes on Nursing, in 1859, and with American physician Elizabeth 
Blackwell opened the Women's Medical College in England in 1869. What is less 
known about Nightingale is that she was a pioneering statistician who designed 
her own diagrams and charts to report on hospital conditions, mortality, and public 
health issues. She was one of the first women to be affiliated with both the Royal 
Statistical Society and the American Statistical Association. 



Blackwell, along with her sister, Emily, and another doctor, Marie Zakrzewska, 
opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, where they trained 
and employed female doctors. In 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first 
African American woman to receive an M.D. degree, receiving her medical train- 
ing at the New England Female Medical College in Boston. 

In the late nineteenth, many women earned medical degrees at separate medical 
schools for women. The next generation, however, would push for access to and 
employment in traditionally male (and thus more prestigious) medical schools. 
Florence Sabin received her M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 
1900 and also became the first female faculty member of the medical school. 
Sabin also distinguished herself as the first female president of the American 
Association of Anatomists, in 1924, and the first woman elected to the National 
Academy of Sciences in 1925. Helen Taussig was another early Johns Hopkins 
graduate, receiving her M.D. in 1927. Other schools were slower to admit women; 
Harvard Medical School did not open its doors to female students until 1945. 

Other early women physicians who were medical researchers included Dorothy 
Reed Mendenhall, who also received her M.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1900, and 
who researched Hodgkin's disease and issues related to infant health and 



Disciplines | 137 



Elizabeth Blackwell 

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) was the first woman in the United States to earn 
a medical degree, graduating from Geneva Medical College in New York in 1849. 
She promoted the medical education of women and went on to establish her own 
hospital for training female physicians. Born in England, Blackwell's family emi- 
grated to the United States when she was a child. She began her career as a 
teacher, but educated herself in medicine by reading in the libraries of physician 
friends. She was rejected by a dozen U.S. medical schools before being accepted 
to Geneva, where the student body had voted for her admission as a joke. Still, 
she was able to attend and complete her education and practiced medicine in 
England, France, and the United States. In 1857, she and two other women 
doctors — her sister Emily Blackwell and Marie Zakrzewska — opened the New 
York Infirmary for Women and Children; during the American Civil War, they 
trained women as nurses for the Union Army. Throughout her career, Blackwell 
was active in the women's rights movement (her sisters-in-law, Antoinette Brown 
Blackwell and Lucy Stone, were both prominent reformers), and she published 
on issues related to women's education, professional opportunities, and health. 



mortality. Elise L'Esperance received an M.D. from Women's Medical College of 
New York in 1900 and led a public health and information campaign through her 
clinics to promote early detection and treatment of cancer. Ida Hyde earned an 
M.D. from Rush College in 1911 and was the first female member of the American 
Physiological Society. Virginia Apgar developed the Apgar scoring system for 
evaluating newborn health and became the first female full professor at Columbia 
University's medical school in 1952. The AMA elected a female vice president in 
1969, but the primary professional organization for medical doctors did not elect 
its first female president until 1998, more than 150 years after its founding; the 
AMA elected its second female president, Nancy Nielsen, in 2008. 

By the end of the twentieth century, women had a greater presence in medicine 
than in other scientific fields in general. In the 40-year period between 1968 and 
2008, the number of female medical school students rose from 8.8% to 47.9% 
(AAMC Table 31). During that same time period, the number of women as practicing 
physicians also rose, from 7.6% of all physicians to 26.6% (Boulis and Jacobs 2008, 
42). These numbers are the result of women's greater access to education and the pro- 
fessions after 1970, but also reflect the growth of the healthcare industry in general. 
As faculty of medical schools, however, there are similar patterns to those of wom- 
en's employment in academic science in general. In 2006, women made up 33% of 
all clinical medical faculty, but the numbers dwindle the higher up the academic 
career ladder one moves. Women accounted for 38% of assistant (nontenured) 



138 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Fran?oise Barre-Sinoussi 

French virologist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi (b. 1947) received the Nobel Prize in 
Physiology or Medicine in 2008 for her discovery of HIV, the human immuno- 
deficiency virus that causes AIDS. She shared the prize with her colleague in this 
work, Luc Montagnier, and with German scientist Harald zur Hausen, for his dis- 
covery of the human papilloma viruses (HPV) that causes cervical cancer. 
Barre-Sinoussi has been affiliated with the Pasteur Institute in Paris since the 
1970s and is currently director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit. 
She began her career studying the link between viruses and cancers, such as leu- 
kemia, and by the early 1980s was part of a team researching a new epidemic 
among homosexuals as reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The 
scientists at the Pasteur Institute had isolated the virus by early 1983 and pre- 
sented the data that linked the new HIV virus to what became known as acquired 
immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Since that time, Barre-Sinoussi has 
focused on vaccine research and on international efforts to prevent, test for, and 
treat HIV/AIDS, including understanding and preventing mother-child transmis- 
sion, in countries throughout Africa and Asia. 



professors, 27% of tenured associate professors, and only 15% of full professors in 
the clinical sciences (AAMC Table 3). Furthermore, the American Association of 
Medical Colleges listed only 14 individual women as deans or interim deans out of 
130 accredited medical schools in the United States in 2006 (AAMC Table 12). 

As in the sciences in general, women are better represented in some medical fields 
or specialties than in others. A survey of medical residents in 2005 found that, within 
the clinical sciences, the largest percentage of women (those in which women made 
up 50% or more of the residents) were training in dermatology, family medicine, 
obstetrics and gynecology, pathology, pediatrics, and psychiatry. Women are there- 
fore substantially represented in fields related to the primary care of women and 
children, and to the "helping" professions. The lowest percentage of women is seen 
in surgery and a variety of surgical specialties, fields that are the most prestigious, 
and highest-paid, among medical specialties (AAMC Table 2). The increasing num- 
bers of female doctors overall has an impact on the quality and focus of healthcare 
services and research. The medical specialties with larger numbers of women are 
not only those that cultivate long-term one-on-one relationships with patients (which 
may be more attractive to some women), but are also career choices in fields that 
make it easier for work/life balance; that is, primary-care physicians are more likely 
to have regular office hours, and are less focused on research or publication and (in 
most cases) less likely to be subject to unscheduled emergencies or surgical calls. 



Disciplines | 139 




Physician Virginia Apgar attending a newborn baby, 1957. She created the Apgar Score, 
the first standardized method for evaluating newborn health. (National Library of Medicine) 

Besides the impact on the careers of individual women as physicians, women as 
patients and consumers of healthcare has also been a subject of inquiry since the 
1970s, and reformers and female medical professionals have pushed for new stud- 
ies and funding for women's and minority health issues. The National Institutes of 
Health (NIH) established guidelines requiring female subjects in all government- 
funded medical and pharmacological research proposals, and sponsored new stud- 
ies on women and heart disease, osteoporosis, AIDS, and breast and other cancers. 
At the grassroots level as well, the women's health movement encouraged women 
to take control of their own bodies and health, with projects such as the book Our 
Bodies, Ourselves (http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org), which has gone through 
numerous editions and been translated into several languages, the National Black 
Women's Health Project (http://www.blackwomenshealth.org), the National 
Women's Health Network (http://www.nwhn.org), and other health advocacy and 
consumer groups. Geneticist Mary Harris founded Journey to Wellness (http:// 
www.journeytowellness.com), an organization committed to African American 
health issues and information, and psychologist Jane Delgado is the president 



140 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Our Bodies, Ourselves and the Women's Health Movement 

The book, Our Bodies, Ourselves, was first published in 1973 and became a 
classic of the American women's health movement. Published by the Boston 
Women's Health Book Collective, the book was the result of a grassroots movement 
of women inspired by feminism to encourage women to take charge of their own 
health. The project was radical at the time of its publication for its open discussion 
of sexuality (including lesbianism), women's sexual health, body image, gender 
identity, violence against women, menstruation, pregnancy and childbearing, 
abortion, mental health, and other general health issues. Although incorporating 
the latest medical information available, the collectively-authored book was 
grounded in women's first-hand experiences and rejected the male-dominated 
medical profession's dismissal or pathologizing of women's issues and sexuality. 
Our Bodies, Ourselves has gone through several editions, sold millions of copies, 
and has been published in more than 20 languages. It has also inspired companion 
volumes on specific topics, such as Ourselves, Growing Older, Our Bodies, 
Ourselves: Menopause, Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth, and a special 
volume for teens. 



and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (http://www.hispanic 
health.org). Helen Gayle is a pediatrician and public-health epidemiologist who 
became the director of CARE USA, a humanitarian agency that addresses poverty, 
education, and healthcare as social issues, and Susan Love left a surgical career to 
focus on legislative, funding, and research commitments to ending breast cancer 
and to empower women with the latest information on treatment alternatives. 
Anthropologist and nurse-midwife Ruth Lubic founded an organization in 
Washington, D.C., committed to the care of families with children. 

Other women physicians have been prominent in government and research posi- 
tions. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush appointed Antonia Novello as the first 
woman, and first Latino, U.S. Surgeon General; Joycelyn Elders was the second 
female Surgeon General, serving under President Bill Clinton. Cardiologist 
Bernadine Healy has served as president of the NIH and the American Red Cross, 
as well as president of the American Heart Association; in each of these roles, Healy 
has focused on the healthcare needs of women and minorities. Several astronauts 
and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists have been 
trained in medicine, including Mae Jemison, who studied weightlessness and 
motion sickness, and Irene Long, who served as chief of the Occupational Medicine 
and Environmental Health Office at NASA, overseeing the health and safety of the 
astronauts and other NASA employees. Eight American women have been awarded 



Disciplines | 141 

the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, but these have all been Ph.D. -holding 
biomedical researchers and not physicians. 

See also Biochemistry; Biology; Biomedical Sciences; Genetics; Neurosci- 
ence; Psychiatry and Psychology 

References 

American Medical Association. Women Physicians Congress (WPC). http://www.ama 
-assn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/our-people/member-groups-sections/women-physicians 
-congress. shtml. 

Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). "Table 2: Distribution of Residents by 
Specialty, 1995 Compared to 2005." http://www.aamc.org/members/gwims/statistics/ 
stats06/table02.pdf. 

Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). "Table 3: Distribution of Faculty by 
Department, Rank & Gender, 2006." http://www.aamc.org/members/gwims/statistics/ 
stats06/table03.pdf. 

Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). "Table 12: Women Deans of the U.S. 
Medical Schools, October 2006." http://www.aamc.org/members/gwims/statistics/ 
stats06/table 12.pdf. 

Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). "Table 31: Women Enrollment and 
Graduates in U.S. Medical Schools, 1961 2008." http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/ 
2008/women-count.htm. 

Association of American Medical Colleges, Women in Medicine (WIM). "Women in U.S. 
Academic Medicine Statistics and Medical School Benchmarking, 2005 2006." http:// 
www.aamc.org/members/gwims/statistics/stats06/start.htm. 

Boulis, Ann K. and Jerry A. Jacobs. 2008. The Changing Face of Medicine: Women Doctors 
and the Evolution of Health Care in America. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 

Fames, Patricia. 1990. "Women in Medical Science." In Women of Science: Righting the 
Record, edited by G. Kass-Simon and Patricia Fames, 268 299. Bloomington: Indiana 
University Press. 

More, Ellen S. 1999. Restoring the Balance: Women Physicians and the Profession of 
Medicine, 1850 1995. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 

National Library of Medicine. Online Exhibit. "Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating 
America's Women Physicians." http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/ 
exhibition/. 

Meteorology 

Meteorology is the science of the Earth's atmospheric processes and phenomena, 
including short-term weather forecasting. Meteorology is related to climatology, 
the longer-term study of the climate, including weather patterns, air pressure, 



142 | American Women of Science since 1900 




humidity, and temperature, either 
locally or globally. Another branch 
of meteorology is hydrology, which 
is the study of the Earth's water re- 
sources, whether ground or air, and 
overlaps with work in geography, 
geology, and environmental sciences 
on sustainability and use of resources. 
Meteorologists provide weather 
information to the general public via 
the media, but also inform (and may 
be employed in) the military, avia- 
tion, space, and maritime industries, 
and local and national governments 
for purposes of natural disaster pre- 
paredness. Many meteorologists in 
the United States are employed as 
forecasters for the National Weather 
Service of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA). In 2009, Jane Lubchenco, 
a marine ecologist who specialized 
in global climate change, was named 
the first female head of NOAA. Meteorology is usually considered one of the earth 
sciences, and education and training may occur under combined interdisciplinary 
programs for earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences. 

Even ancient societies had a material interest in observing and predicting weather 
events and changes, primarily for planning in agriculture. Early weather observa- 
tions and forecasting went hand in hand with astronomy, as an understanding of 
the solar and lunar cycles informed the understanding of seasons, winds, rainfall, 
and other weather patterns and events. In the age of exploration, sailors recorded 
tropical and other ocean-related weather events that aided future travelers, and in 
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the first weather maps (or atlases) were pub- 
lished and the Celsius temperature scale was created. The U.S. Weather Bureau 
(now the National Weather Service) was first established in 1 870 and later became 
part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first weather-observation stations 
were also established, and soon an international network of weather information 
and a standardized form of communication was needed. By the mid-twentieth cen- 
tury, computers and satellites aided these efforts, making it possible to map global 
weather patterns and generate statistical analyses for forecasting. 



Marine ecologist and conservation biologist, 
Jane Lubchenco. In 2009 she was chosen as 
head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, the first woman to hold that post. 
(AP/Wide World Photos) 



Disciplines | 143 

The actual numbers of trained meteorologists remains small, but a few women 
have stood out in the field since the mid-twentieth century. The national Weather 
Bureau began to employ many women during and after World War II; some of these 
were only temporary workers, but others built careers in meteorology out of this 
experience. Florence Van Straten monitored weather conditions for the Pacific fleet 
during the war and went on to work for the Naval Weather Service as a civilian 
meteorologist, providing weather forecasting to support military operations, such 
as launching long-range missiles. Pauline Morrow Austin held a Ph.D. in physics 
and worked as a "computer" in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 
Radiation Lab before being trained as a meteorologist during World War II. Joanne 
Simpson was the first woman to receive a doctorate specifically in meteorology 
(earning her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1949) and worked as a fore- 
caster for the military during World War II; she also held several positions at NOAA 
and was the first female president of the American Meteorological Society (1989). 
Bernice Ackerman was also trained as a meteorologist during World War II and 
went on to earn a doctorate in meteorology in 1965; she is considered the first female 
weather forecaster in the United States, and worked as a research meteorologist in the 
Cloud Physics Laboratory at the University of Chicago and as the first woman 
meteorologist at Argonne National Laboratory. 

In the 1970s, Joanne Simpson and Margaret LeMone, an observational meteor- 
ologist whose research focuses on storm and cloud systems and who received her 
Ph.D. in 1972, began tracking the education and careers of women in meteorology. 
They found that, between 1971 and 1976, women earned just 3.3% of the more than 
500 doctorates awarded in meteorology (LeMone et al. 1984). Women's representa- 
tion in the field rose significantly over the subsequent decades. By 1999, women 
earned 17.7% of doctorates in the field of atmospheric sciences; by 2006, that num- 
ber had risen to 3 1 .3% (NSF Table F-2). Again, the overall numbers of meteorology 
or atmospheric science doctorates and professionals remains small; the 2006 number, 
for example, represents only 46 women out of a total of 147 doctorates in atmos- 
pheric sciences awarded that year (NSF Table F-l). 

Women meteorologists continue to make important contributions in 
government, industry, and academic settings, especially as global climate change 
has become an important social and political issue of our time. Tamara Ledley is 
known for her research on the role of the polar regions in shaping climate and has 
examined how the interaction of atmosphere and sea with ice and oceans influences 
climate change. She has conducted research in both Alaska and Antarctica, and 
been active in presenting information on climatology to elementary school children 
as well as to university students. Eugenia Kalnay received a Ph.D. in meteorology 
from MIT in 1971. Kalnay uses computer models and analysis to make numerical 
global weather predictions based on ocean and atmospheric climates and has been 



144 | American Women of Science since 1900 

one of the most outspoken voices on the role of humans in global climate change. 
Atmospheric scientist and engineer Susan K. Avery had a long career in academia 
before being appointed the first female director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic 
Institution in 2008. Scientists in the field may be affiliated with the National 
Weather Association (http://www.nwas.org) and the American Meteorological 
Society (http://www.ametsoc.org). 

See also Astronomy and Astrophysics; Environmental Sciences and Ecology; 
Geology; Geography; Ocean Sciences 

References 

LeMone, Margaret A., Joan V. Frisch, and Lesley T. Julian. 1984. "Tracking Women and 
the Weather." Weatherwise. 176 181. (August 1984). 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-l. S&E doctoral degrees awarded, by field: 
1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engi- 
neering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey 
of Earned Doctorates, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabf-l.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-2. S&E doctoral degrees awarded to women, by field: 
1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineer- 
ing. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of 
Earned Doctorates, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabf-2.pdf. 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Women in the Weather Bureau 
during WWII." NOAA History. A Science Odyssey, http://www.history.noaa.gov/ 
stories tales/w omenl.html. 

World Meteorological Organization. Gender theme page, http://www.wmo.ch/pages/ 
themes/gender/index en. html. 

World Meteorological Organization. 1995. "Statement to the Fourth World Conference on 
Women, Beijing, China." United Nations. http://www.un.org/esa/gopher-data/conf/ 
fwcw/conf/una/950908210829.txt. 



Neuroscience 

Neuroscience is the study of the brain and nervous system, and may include scien- 
tists working in a variety of backgrounds, fields, and subdisciplines, including cel- 
lular and molecular neurosciences, neuroscience systems, pharmacology, 
behavioral or cognitive neuroscience, neurolinguistics, developmental neurosci- 
ence, evolutionary neuroscience, and brain diseases, disorders, or injuries. Neuro- 
scientists may focus on the chemical, genetic, or behavioral aspects of brain 
science. Neuroscience differs from psychiatry, however, in its foundation in the 
physical structure and processes of the brain and nervous system. 



Disciplines | 145 

Numerous ancient cultures observed the effects of brain damage and many 
engaged in practices to relieve physical and mental pain, such as cranial drilling. 
The exact function and structure of the brain, however, was not understood for 
many centuries. In some sense, phrenology and early psychology and philoso- 
phy of the nineteenth century were precursors to neuroscience, in that these sci- 
entific endeavors sought to understand the relationship between the brain and the 
mind, or between the physical structure of the brain and human thought and 
behavior. Microscope technology allowed scientists in the late nineteenth cen- 
tury to study brain tissues and led to the discovery of nerve cells, or neurons. 
Neuroscientists in the twentieth century have focused their research on the func- 
tion or role of specific parts of the brain, finding that certain regions of the brain 
correspond to different behaviors and skills, such as language, movement, or 
organ function. Other researchers focus on the chemical, hormonal, or environ- 
mental influences upon the brain and nervous system. Neuroscience as it exists 
today, then, is a relatively new field, made possible by great technological 
advances in radiology and computer imaging that allow us to see what is going 
on inside the human brain. 

In 1963, women earned just 10% of higher degrees in neuroscience; by 1973, 
that number had increased to 20%. Although the numbers and status of female stu- 
dents, faculty members, and researchers are sometimes difficult to track since neu- 
roscientists may be working within a variety of interdisciplinary fields and settings 
related to the biological or life sciences, most reports show a continued increase in 
women's numbers in neuroscience. By 1998, women made up as many as 45% of 
graduate students in the neurosciences, approximately 31% of assistant (nonten- 
ured) professors, but still less than 20% of tenured full professors (Haak 2002). 
This is a "leaky pipeline" pattern found throughout the sciences in which there 
are fewer women at each successive stage of the career ladder. 

Elizabeth Crosby, who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1915, 
was one of the earliest women brain researchers and published several textbooks 
on neuroanatomy and neurosurgery. Barbara Brown was trained in pharmacol- 
ogy and was another among the first generation of women in neuroscience. Brown 
received her doctorate from the University of Cincinnati in 1950 and was a pioneer 
researcher in the concept of "biofeedback," a method of learning to control one's 
bodily functions by monitoring one's own brain waves and other bodily functions. 
A professional organization, Women in Neuroscience (WIN) was founded in 1980 
to support women in careers in neuroscience. WIN (now the Committee on 
Women in Neuroscience, http://www.sfn. org/index.cfm?pagename=womenin- 
neuroscience) was founded by Candace Pert, a neurophysiologist who, as a 
graduate student, co-discovered the brain's opiate receptors, the areas in which 
painkilling substances such as morphine can be inserted. Her work led to the 



146 | American Women of Science since 1900 




Neurophysiologist Candace Pert with a CAT scan of a brain. Pert researches the 
connection between brain chemicals and emotions. (Claudio Edinger/Corbis) 



discovery of endorphins, the naturally occurring substances manufactured in the 
brain that relieve pain and produce sensations of pleasure. 

Thelma Estrin is a bioengineer who pioneered the use of computers in brain 
research, and Patricia Goldman-Rakic is a neurobiologist who mapped the fron- 
tal lobe of the brain and combined methods in anatomy, psychiatry, and biochem- 
istry to understand certain brain disorders, behaviors, and the effects of drug 
treatments for memory loss; Goldman-Rakic also founded and co-edited the jour- 
nal Cerebral Cortex. Nobel Prize winner Rita Levi Montalcini is a neurologist 
who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1986 for her discovery of 
nerve growth factor (NGF), which is responsible for the rapid growth of immature 
cells implicated in diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's. 

Marian Cleeves Diamond studies the physical structure of the cerebral cortex 
and the impact of environmental factors (such as diet, exercise, stress, and emo- 
tions) on the development of the brain. Nancy Wexler holds a Ph.D. in clinical 
psychology and combined neuroscience and psychology as a neuropsychologist 
who looked at Huntington's disease, a hereditary disease that kills nerve cells in 
the brain, causing dementia and rapid, uncontrollable movements of the joints 



Disciplines | 147 

and limbs. Susan Hockfield is a neurobiologist who studies pain and the nervous 
system — in 2004, she became the first woman (and first life or biological scientist) 
president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 

Other neuroscientists have contributed to the debate over whether male and 
female brains are different, looking at the physical structure of brains as well as 
the effect of hormones and environment, for insight into gendered differences in 
language, behavior, sexuality, and even math and science aptitude. Elizabeth 
Spelke is a cognitive psychologist whose research focuses on language and knowl- 
edge acquisition in young infants; Spelke has been one of the most outspoken crit- 
ics of the idea of innate gendered differences in the brain, arguing that there are no 
biological differences between the brains of male babies and female babies. 
Spelke's colleague, Nancy Kanwisher, is a cognitive psychologist who has also 
argued against innate gender difference; Kanwisher uses neurological research 
methods and tools to study the various functions of specific parts of the brain as 
well as the social and evolutionary development of the brain. Psychologist Susan 
Carey also focuses on the brain development of young infants and the acquisition 
of language and other knowledge. 

See also Biochemistry; Biology; Biomedical Sciences; Genetics; Medicine; 
Psychiatry and Psychology 

References 

Haak, Laurel L. 2002. "Women in Neuroscience (WIN): The First Twenty Years." Journal 
of the History of the Neurosciences. 11(1): 70 80. (March 2002). 

Taylor, Jill Bolte. 2006. My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey. 
Penguin Books, http://drjilltaylor.com/book.html. 



Nutrition and Home Economics 

Nutrition sciences is the study of human nutritional needs and intake, and their 
relationship to health, illness, and disease. Nutritional scientists study individual 
aspects of the human diet and the body's processing of fats, proteins, carbohy- 
drates, vitamins, and minerals. Nutritionists may be trained in biochemistry, path- 
ology, plant biology, microbiology, and toxicology, and may work in fields related 
to education, community health, medicine and healthcare, government policy- 
making, and food development, safety, and preparation. 

The growing, gathering, and processing and cooking of food has traditionally 
been the work of women across human cultures. In the nineteenth century, the 
U.S. government became involved in regulating agricultural production through 
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), founded in 1862. Work in food 



148 | American Women of Science since 1900 




sciences and nutrition was supported 
and carried out through government 
land-grant colleges in the Midwest, 
where women were admitted into pro- 
grams in animal, agriculture, and 
household sciences. The USDA sub- 
sequently became one of the earliest 
and largest employers of women sci- 
entists. Mary Engle Pennington, 
who earned a Ph.D. in 1895 and was 
trained in chemistry and botany, 
worked for the USDA, where she 
established guidelines for poultry and 
egg production as well as new meth- 
ods of killing and transporting chick- 
ens; this technology was important 
for farm productivity as well as for 
food safety. 

It was during World War I, how- 
ever, that the U.S. government became 
involved in creating dietary standards, 
first out of concern for the nutritional 
needs of those serving in the armed forces, and then in establishing guidelines 
for the population at large. Interest in these issues coincided with the entrance of 
women into higher education and the scientific professions, and with reformers' 
concerns about the dietary habits of urban families and children. Frances Stern 
applied her dietary research to the needs of the urban poor and immigrants through 
her internationally recognized Boston Dispensary Food Clinic in the 1920s. Nutri- 
tion science was also aided by technological advances in biology and chemistry. 
The isolation of vitamins and minerals, and research on human vitamin require- 
ments, advanced steadily beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, and by the 1940s 
and 1950s (again prompted by wartime concerns), the government had established 
Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) for various vitamins and minerals, and 
the idea of food groups and the food pyramid for the general public. Eventually, 
food packaging was changed to include nutritional information guidelines for 
consumers. 

Many of the first women nutrition scientists focused on the specific dietary 
needs of women and children. Mary Swartz Rose received a Ph.D. in physiologi- 
cal chemistry from Yale University in 1909 and was a pioneer in research on vita- 
mins and minerals. She published several textbooks and popular books for the 



Chemist and nutritionist Mary Swartz Rose 
was a pioneer in research on nutrition and 
dietetics. (National Library of Medicine) 



Disciplines | 149 

public, such as Feeding the Family (1916) and Teaching Nutrition to Boys and 
Girls (1932). Icie Macy-Hoobler, another Ph.D. in physiological chemistry from 
Yale (1920), focused on the nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating women, 
on the connection between nutrition or malnutrition and birth defects, and on 
infant development and growth; she also served as president of the American Insti- 
tute of Nutrition in 1944. Grace MacLeod (Ph.D., Columbia, 1924) focused on 
calcium, iron, and other supplements, and on the energy metabolism of children. 

Several women nutritional researchers were involved in government efforts 
to establish the RDA and food guidelines in the mid-twentieth century. Lydia 
Roberts held a Ph.D. in home economics from the University of Chicago 
(1928), and was a pioneer in the field of children's nutrition, and Helen Swift 
Mitchell was another early physiological chemist (Ph.D., Yale, 1921) who 
studied vitamins; both women had a key role in development of the RDA. Hazel 
Stiebeling also held a Ph.D. in chemistry (Columbia, 1928) and had a long career 
at the USDA, where she also helped develop the government dietary guidelines 
and RDA of vitamins and minerals. Gladys Emerson (Ph.D., 1932) was a bio- 
chemist who researched amino acids and vitamins and helped isolate vitamin E. 
Doris Calloway earned her Ph.D. in nutrition in 1947 and did research for the 
U.S. Army on the effect of nuclear radiation on soldiers' rations and later food 
processing and packaging research for the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA) astronaut program. Others interested in nutrition have 
launched more popular programs, such as Jane Brody, who combined degrees in 
biochemistry and journalism to become a popular nutrition and personal health 
columnist, author, and media personality. 

Many women nutritionists worked in the field of home economics in the first 
half of the twentieth century. Catharine Beecher published A Treatise on Domestic 
Economy in 1841, but home economics was established as a profession by a new 
generation of women with advanced education who combined the social, physical, 
and natural sciences to elevate the status of household studies in the early twenti- 
eth century. The American Home Economics Association (AHEA) was founded 
in 1908. Home-economics programs included courses in food and nutrition, but 
also household consumption, management, and budgeting, household technolo- 
gies, child development, and sewing and textiles. The Bureau of Home Economics 
was the first USDA department to have a female bureau chief; Louise Stanley 
(who held a doctorate in biochemistry from Yale, 1911) spent over 25 years at 
the USDA as one of the highest-paid and highest-ranking female scientists in the 
federal government. 

Other women built and directed home-economics programs at major univer- 
sities. Agnes Fay Morgan held a doctorate in chemistry (from the University of 
Chicago in 1914) and helped build an outstanding scientific research-based 



150 | American Women of Science since 1900 

program at the University of California, Berkeley, insisting that chemistry was an 
integral part of the home-economics curriculum. Flora Rose and Martha Van 
Rensselaer founded and co-directed the School of Home Economics at Cornell 
University. Abby Marlatt had a master's degree in chemistry and studied nutri- 
tion, and she brought her scientific background and commitments to her work as 
head of the home-economics department at the University of Wisconsin. 

In these early years, home economics was often a place to channel the work and 
interests of women scientists, who may have been excluded from other depart- 
ments or programs. In this sense, home economics institutionalized the idea of 
domesticity as "women's work." Its proponents argued, however, that it legiti- 
mized household work by deeming it skilled and scientific, and that home- 
economics training not only took women's work seriously, but made it more effi- 
cient. This was the argument exemplified in the life and career of Lillian 
Gilbreth, a trained psychologist who developed household efficiency studies 
which she modeled in running her own household of 12 children. Other critics 
have focused on the ethnocentrism of early nutritional and home-economics 
reformers, who sought to alter the lifestyles and households of immigrants and 
the working poor. Several black colleges also offered courses and therefore trained 
black women as scientists, teachers, and consultants. Cecile Edwards held a doc- 
torate in nutrition (1950) and helped establish the program in nutrition at Howard 
University, but she worked evaluating interdisciplinary programs that provided re- 
sources for low-income people around issues of not only nutrition, but also parent- 
ing, childcare, household budgeting, and job skills. Still, after the 1950s, home- 
economics programs were increasingly aimed at female undergraduates who 
would presumably devote their post-college lives to roles as wives, mothers, and 
household consumers. 

In the late twentieth and now twenty-first centuries, home economics has taken 
a more international approach. The International Federation for Home Economics 
(IFHE) focuses its research and practitioners on international development, 
addressing poverty and malnutrition, and agricultural programs. Such work often 
requires training and field work in cultural anthropology or politics, as well as lan- 
guage studies, more so than in the natural or biological sciences. 

See also Animal Sciences; Biochemistry; Biomedical Sciences; Botany; 
Chemistry; Economics 

References 

Iowa State University Library. 1998. "Today's Seeds for Tomorrow's Harvest: The Impact 
of Women Nutritionists." Online exhibit. Archives of Women in Science & Engineer- 
ing. Special Collections. Iowa State University Library, http://www.lib.iastate.edu/ 
spcl/exhibits/Seeds/. 



Disciplines | 151 

Harper, Alfred E. 2003. "Contributions of Women Scientists in the U.S. to the Develop- 
ment of Recommended Dietary Allowances. "The Journal of Nutrition. 133: 
3698 3702. (November 2003). http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/133/ll/3698. 

King, Janet C. 2003. "Contributions of Women to Human Nutrition." The Journal of Nutri- 
tion. 133: 3693 3697. (November 2003). http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/133/ll/ 
3693. 

Levine, Susan. 2008. School Lunch Politics: The Surprising History of America's Favorite 
Welfare Program. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 

Shapiro, Laura. 2009. Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century. 
2nd edition. Berkeley: University of California Press. 

Stage, Sarah and Virginia Vincent, eds. 1997. Rethinking Home Economics: Women and 
the History of a Profession. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 



Ocean Sciences 

Ocean sciences is one of the earth, atmospheric, and environmental sciences, and 
includes oceanography and marine biology. Oceanography is the study of the 
physical nature and processes of the oceans, and includes the chemical, geologi- 
cal, and ecological features of the Earth's oceans, including currents, tides, and 
ocean weather or climate, underwater landforms and plate tectonics, or the chemi- 
cal and biological interaction of species and environment. Marine biology is a sub- 
field of both general biology and oceanography, and focuses on the study of 
marine life, from the microscopic, to invertebrates, fish, and marine mammals, to 
plants and algae. Marine biologists use the same methods and tools of the biologi- 
cal sciences, and may focus on cellular or molecular biology, genetics, develop- 
ment and evolution, or the behavior of organisms, or may concentrate on life 
forms within a particular environment or habitat, such as the ocean floor, the coral 
reefs, or the open ocean. Marine biology is therefore a scientific field determined 
by environment or location, rather than by subject or method. The ocean sciences 
are usually specializations studied at the graduate level, and undergraduate prepara- 
tion may be in fields such as earth or environmental sciences, biology, or geology. 
Covering three-quarters of the Earth's surface, the oceans are often considered 
the last frontier, and remain less explored by humans than space. The oceans and 
marine life support human life as a resource for food, medicines, oil, and other 
raw materials used in a variety of industries and products. The oceans also impact 
landforms (coastlines, ice formation, etc.) and affect both local weather events and 
global weather systems and climate change through the system of evaporation, 
rain, wind, and atmospheric changes. The health of the oceans is crucial to human 



152 | American Women of Science since 1900 

life and is thus at the center of global ecological and environmental concerns .The 
work of oceanographers also informs other disciplines related to use of the ocean's 
resources, such as engineering, food and pharmaceutical industries, and ocean 
travel. 

The interdisciplinary nature of oceanography led early scientists to develop sci- 
entific principles from astronomy, meteorology, and physics, and apply them to the 
ocean currents and tides system. The history of oceanography thus overlaps with 
the astronomical and meteorological sciences, and begins with human efforts to 
observe and track the tides and currents, and chart ocean weather patterns, for pur- 
poses of coastal living and maritime travel. The age of exploration took Europeans 
around the globe, leading to the discovery of new animal and plant species, and 
science replaced earlier mythologies of sea monsters, mermaids, and mysterious 
forces ruling the seas. Explorers and coastal inhabitants recorded observations 
about the shoreline and reef systems. The nineteenth century brought the first 
efforts to measure the depths of the oceans and chart the undersea geography of 
cliffs, ridges, and valleys. The accuracy of this work, however, required 
twentieth-century technology and computer mapping systems. 

Oceanography began as a serious scientific endeavor in the late nineteenth and 
early twentieth centuries, with expeditions focused on geographical and marine 
biology research to the Arctic and other regions. In the United States, the Scripps 
Institution of Oceanography (http://sio.ucsd.edu) was founded on the west coast, 
in California, in 1892, and the next major oceanographic research facility, Woods 
Hole Oceanographic Institution (http://www.whoi.edu), was founded on the east 
coast, in Massachusetts, in 1930. The U.S. government created several agencies 
focused on scientific ocean research and conservation, beginning with the U.S. 
Coast Survey (founded in 1807), the U.S. Weather Bureau (1870), and the U.S. 
Commission of Fish and Fisheries (1871). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 
founded in 1879, is also involved in oceanographic research; indeed, marine 
geologist Marcia McNutt, formerly director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium 
Research Institute in California, was named by President Obama as the first female 
director of USGS in 2009. In 1966, the U.S. government created a National Coun- 
cil for Marine Resources and Engineering Development, and a few years later, in 
1970, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was 
founded. In 2009, Jane Lubchenco, a marine ecologist who researched issues 
related to global climate change, was also chosen by the president as the first 
female head of NOAA. In 2008, Woods Hole also named its first female president 
and director, Susan K. Avery, an atmospheric scientist. 

There were few doctorates specifically in oceanography before 1960. Oceanog- 
raphers have studied in many different degree programs and are still included 
in statistics on the combined earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences (EAOS). 



Disciplines | 153 




In 1974, women earned just 4.9% of 
earth, atmospheric, and ocean science 
doctorates; by 1999, that number had 
risen to 27.8%, and it is estimated that 
in 2001, women earned 38% of all 
specifically oceanographic doctorates, 
a number consistent with women's 
representation across all scientific 
fields (O'Connell and Holmes 2005). 
As part of the earth sciences, oceanog- 
raphers are represented by the same 
professional organizations, such as 
the Association for Women Geo- 
scientists (http://www.awg.org), and 
through special programs such as 
Mentoring Physical Oceanography 
Women to Increase Retention 
(MPOWIR) (http://www.mpowir.org), 
sponsored by NOAA and other 
organizations. The Society for 
Marine Mammology (http://www 
.marinemammalscience.org) repre- 
sents marine biologists with a spe- 
cialty in mammals, and other subfields within oceanography and marine biology 
have their own professional networks and organizations, many of which are 
international in scope, related to specific regions, organisms, or research concerns. 
One of the most renowned American women oceanographers is Sylvia Earle, 
who holds a Ph.D. in botany and has been involved in numerous organizations 
and projects concerned with observing and preserving marine environments; she 
was also the first female chief scientist of NOAA. Kathryn Sullivan was an astro- 
naut who was trained as a marine geologist and replaced Earle as the next chief 
scientist of NOAA. Kathleen Crane received her doctorate in oceanography at 
Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1977 and became the Program Manager 
in NOAA's Arctic Research Office, leading several U.S.-Russian expeditions to 
the Arctic. Many oceanographers have been trained in geology and geosciences. 
Elizabeth Bunce was a geophysicist who spent a long career at Woods Hole 
Oceanographic Institution studying marine seismology and underwater acoustics. 
Marie Tharp studied underwater geology and created some of the first maps of 
the ocean floor, including her discovery of the valley that divides the Mid- 
Atlantic Ridge. Marcia McNutt, who became director of both the Monterey 



Marine botanist Sylvia Earle next to a 
submersible suit. (Bettmann/Corbis) 



154 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Bay Aquarium Research Institute and then USGS, also mapped and measured the 
depth of the sea floor and researched plate tectonics. Helen McCammon is a 
marine geologist who began her career in marine paleontology, but then began to 
research living invertebrates and marine ecology. Joan Owens is considered the 
first African American woman to earn a doctorate in geology; she studied marine 
geology and researched deep-sea button corals. 

An earlier generation of women also conducted research on marine ecology, 
which provides insight into human and planetary health. Josephine Tilden earned 
her master's degree in 1897 and in the early 1900s was a specialist in marine bot- 
any and ecology who studied coastal and Pacific algae. Mary McWhinnie was a 
marine biologist and ecologist who studied krill in the ocean food chain; she was 
one of the first women scientists to winter in Antarctica. Audrey Haschemeyer 
was trained in physical chemistry and was another of the earliest American 
women to conduct research in Antarctica, where she studied how temperature 
change affects the biological processes of fish. Renowned ecologist Rachel Car- 
son held a master's degree in zoology and began her career as an aquatic biologist 
at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, publishing 
two early books on marine ecology and oceanography: Under the Sea Wind 
(1941) and The Sea Around Us (1951). In the 1980s, Rita Colwell became a leader 
in marine biotechnology, concerned with medical, industrial, and aquaculture re- 
sources available from the sea; she served as president of the University of Mary- 
land Biotechnology Institute (UMBI). 

Marine biologists study animal life in the oceans, work that overlaps with zool- 
ogy. Francesca La Monte did not hold an advanced scientific degree, but worked 
as an ichthyologist at the American Museum of Natural History for her entire 
career, between 1919 and 1962; she wrote several books on large marine species, 
such as marlin and swordfish. Eugenie Clark received her Ph.D. in zoology in 
1950 and became a world-renowned marine biologist who specializes in sharks 
and other fishes. Dixy Lee Ray was trained as a zoologist and marine biologist 
who focused on crustaceans, but she became involved in environmental policy 
and then politics as governor of the state of Washington. 

See also Biology; Botany; Environmental Sciences and Ecology; Geogra- 
phy; Geology; Meteorology; Paleontology; Zoology 

References 

Crane, Kathleen. 2003. Sea Legs: Tales of a Woman Oceanographer. Boulder, CO: 
Westview Press. 

Delaney, Peggy, ed. 2005. "Autobiographical Sketches of Women in Oceanography." 
Oceanography 18(1): 65 246. (March 2005). The Oceanography Society, http:// 
www.tos.org/oceanography/issues/issue archive/issue pdfs/18 1/18.1 sketches.pdf. 



Disciplines | 155 

Hamblin, Jacob Darwin. 2005. Oceanographers and the Cold War: Disciples of Marine 
Science. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 

O'Connell, Suzanne and Mary Anne Holmes. 2005. "Women in Oceanography: Women of 
the Academy and the Sea." Oceanography 18(1): 12 24. (March 2005). The Oceanogra- 
phy Society, http://digitalcommons.unl. edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1068&context 
=geosciencefacpub. 

Rozwadowski, Helen M. 2005. Fathoming the Ocean: The Discovery and Exploration of 
the Deep Sea. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 

"Women Exploring the Oceans." Women Oceanographers. http://www. women 
oceanographers.org/. 

"Women in Oceanography: Investigators of the Earth, Oceans, and Atmosphere." Scripps 
Institution of Oceanography. http://www.siommg.ucsd.edu/wio/Women pi. html. 



Paleontology 

Paleontology is the study of ancient (or prehistoric) life forms and geological struc- 
tures through the Earth's fossil record. The work of paleontologists may depend 
upon the tools and methods of biology, botany, chemistry, geology, oceanography, 
and zoology, as well as evolutionary biology, environmental sciences, anthropology, 
and history. Although archaeology is also the study of the ancient past, archaeology 
focuses on the material record of the human past, whereas paleontology might also 
include fossils of rocks, shells, animals, and plants. Paleontology involves fieldwork 
for specimen collection, and scientific tools for analysis, but shares with the social 
sciences the attempt to observe and explain phenomena, rather than formulating the- 
ories through experiments. Although we tend to think of dinosaurs as the primary 
subject of paleontologists, some subfields of paleontology are paleobotany, paleo- 
ecology, paleoclimatology, paleoceanography, and paleogeography. Paleontologists 
may also focus on specific types of fossils or species, such as mammals, reptiles, 
birds, insects, invertebrates, or specific types of plant life forms. 

The science of paleontology developed beginning in the eighteenth century, and 
the first professional scientific organizations and museum collection efforts began 
in the nineteenth century. The first North American dinosaur fossil was found in 
1858, coinciding with the westward expansion of the population in the United 
States, which promoted new geological discoveries and competitive fossil- 
collecting expeditions in the late nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century, 
other scientific advances, tools, and concerns led to new inquiries and new prior- 
ities in paleontology. Modern paleontologists use a variety of technologically 
advanced tools in genetics, biochemistry, and computer science, making possible 



156 | American Women of Science since 1900 



computer and DNA analysis and dating of fossils for the study of the chemical and 
biological origins and evolution of life, and for specific problems such as the 
extinction of species, historical changes in the Earth's climate and ecosystems, 
and the origins and dating of Earth itself. 

British women made some of the earliest discoveries in paleontology. In the 
nineteenth century, more women were involved as "amateurs" in fieldwork and 
specimen collecting, not only in paleontology, but also in natural history, botany, 
geology, and archaeology. Mary Anning was an early-nineteenth-century British 
fossil collector and paleontologist who sold fossils to tourists, scientists, and 
museums for income. Anning discovered the first complete skeleton of an ichthyo- 
saur and the first known skeleton of a plesiosaur, both sea reptiles, and her contri- 
bution was acknowledged by membership in the Geological Society of London 
and a later pension from the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
In the United States, one of the earliest and most significant female fossil hunters 
was Annie Montague Alexander, who did not hold a science degree but went on 
several field expeditions in the early 1900s, discovered new species, and donated 
thousands of animal and fossil specimens to the University of California, Berkeley 
for their zoology and paleontology museums (Stein 2001). 

In the twentieth century, many 
women have worked in the field of 
paleontology, although as with 
archaeology, geology, or other field- 
based sciences, they have come up 
against stereotypes and concerns 
about women joining in expeditions, 
working alongside male scientists, 
and leaving home and family behind. 
Carlotta Maury was one of the ear- 
liest professional American women 
paleontologists, receiving her doctor- 
ate from Cornell University in 1902; 
she specialized in South American 
geological expeditions and was the 
official paleontologist of Brazil for 
20 years. Winifred Goldring did not 
hold an advanced degree, but she took 
graduate courses at Columbia, Har- 
vard, and Johns Hopkins University 
in the early 1900s and became the 
state paleontologist of New York. 




Paleontologist Tilly Edinger proved that the 
brain's evolution could be studied through 
fossils. (Bettmann/Corbis) 



Disciplines | 157 



Mary Anning 

Mary Anning (1799-1847) was a British fossil collector who made some of the 
most important marine fossil discoveries of the nineteenth century through explor- 
ing the cliffs and fossil beds along the shore near her home in Lyme Regis. She 
uncovered a complete ichthyosaur skeleton and the first plesiosaur skeletons ever 
found. Her work changed the nineteenth-century scientific understanding of pre- 
historic life and extinction, paving the way for Darwin's theory of evolution and 
for the modern studies of geology and paleontology. 

Anning and her brother, Joseph, began by selling shells, rocks, and fossils to 
tourists at Lyme Regis, inspiration for the later tongue-twister "She sells sea shells 
by the seashore." They later opened a storefront where the ichthyosaur skeleton 
was on display and were soon visited by fossil hunters and museum collectors 
from across Europe and the United States. As a self-educated woman (she read 
scientific journals and dissected animals to study anatomy and classification), 
Anning was always an outsider to the scientific community, but she was able to 
support herself through the sale of her specimens and through the patronage of 
those who supported her work. Eventually, one such friend arranged for her to 
receive a government pension for her contributions to science. Interest in Anning's 
compelling story continues, as she is the subject of two modern biographies, as 
well as a novel inspired by her life. 



She wrote several books on fossils for the general public and was named the first 
female president of the Paleontological Society in 1949. Julia Gardner earned a 
Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1911 and was also president of the Paleontological 
Society in 1952. Gardner studied mollusks found in sedimentary and other 
rocks and was one of the first women employed by the U.S. Geological Survey. 
Katherine Palmer had a Ph.D. in paleontology from Cornell University (1925) 
and also studied mollusk fossils; she was president of the American Malacological 
Union in 1960. Tilly Edinger received her doctorate in Germany in 1921 
and researched fossils of mammal brains to understand the evolution of the 
brain; she became president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in 1964. 
Christina Lochman Balk earned a Ph.D. in 1933 and researched invertebrate 
fossils; she was also a geologist who specialized in stratigraphy, or the analysis 
of rock layers. 

In the post- 1960s generation, paleontologists continue to combine work in biol- 
ogy, botany, geology, and environmental studies in a variety of fields and research 
interests. Margaret Bryan Davis is a paleoecologist and plant biologist trained in 
biology at Harvard University (Ph.D., 1957) who analyzed ancient pollen and 



158 | American Women of Science since 1900 

vegetation and has taught in departments of ecology and evolution. Estella 
Leopold is also a paleoecologist and botanist who received her Ph.D. in botany 
from Yale University in 1955 and has studied ancient environments through the 
pollen and spore fossil record. Helen Loeblich earned a Ph.D. in geology from 
the University of Chicago in 1942, and was another plant paleontologist whose 
research focused on living and fossil plant microorganisms. Pat Shipman has 
combined paleontology and archaeology (she holds a doctorate in anthropology 
from New York University, 1977) to understand how ancient humans evolved 
and interacted with their physical environments. 

Women paleontologists are represented by professional organizations accord- 
ing to their subspecialties (botany, geology, or zoology, for example), or by broad 
groups such as the Paleontological Society (http://www.paleosoc.org), the Society 
of Vertebrate Paleontology (http://www.vertpaleo.org), or the Society for Sedi- 
mentary Geology (http://www.sepm.org). In many cases, the fieldwork and 
research of paleontologists is international in scope and is carried out throughout 
the globe, and in cooperation with professional societies, institutions and govern- 
ments in other countries. 

See also Anthropology and Archaeology; Biology; Botany; Geology; Zoology 

References 

Aldrich, Michele L. 1982. "Women in Paleontology in the United States, 1840 1960." 
Earth Sciences History. 1: 14-22. 

Hager, Lori. 1997. Women in Human Evolution. New York: Routledge. 

Stein, Barbara R. 2001. On Her Own Terms: Annie Montague Alexander and the Rise of 
Science in the American West. Berkeley: University of California Press. 

Pharmacology 

See Biochemistry; Biomedical Sciences; Botany; Chemistry; Medicine 



Physics 

Physics is the science of the physical properties and laws of matter, energy, force, 
time, and motion. In broadest terms, physics is an attempt to understand the prin- 
ciples or laws of the natural world and the universe. As such, it is grounded in 
natural philosophy as much as in scientific observation and experimentation. 
Physics relies upon and also informs work in mathematics, engineering, chemistry, 
and astronomy. Physics results in the creation of new theories about the natural 
world as well as new technologies. Because of this comprehensiveness and 



Disciplines | 159 



Marie Curie 

Perhaps the most well-known woman scientist, Marie Sklodowska Curie 
(1867-1934) is the only woman (and one of the few scientists) to win two Nobel 
Prizes. For her work on radium, she shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with 
her husband, Pierre Curie, and with Antoine Henri Becquerel, the discoverer of radio- 
activity; Marie Curie went on to win a second prize, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, in 
191 1. The Curies developed techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and dis- 
covered two new chemical elements: radium and polonium, named for Marie Curie's 
native country of Poland. During and after World War I, Marie Curie (along with her 
daughter Irene Joliot-Curie, who also later received a Nobel Prize) dedicated her 
research to medical uses for radium and radiography in treating wounded soldiers. 
Born in Warsaw, Poland, Marie Curie studied physics and math at the Sorbonne 
in Paris, France, where she met and married Pierre Curie. She received her doctor- 
ate in 1903 and later took her husband's place as Head of the Physics Laboratory, 
and was the first woman appointed Professor of General Physics at the Sorbonne. 
In 1914, she became director of the newly founded Curie Laboratory in the Radium 
Institute of the University of Paris, and later founded the Radium Institute in 
Warsaw. A curie is now a scientific term for a unit of radioactivity. 



breadth of inquiry, physics has a long history and developed along with discoveries 
in chemistry, mathematics, and astronomy. Physics began as a distinct discipline 
with the experiments and observations on motion, mechanics, and space of indi- 
viduals such as Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton in the seventeenth century. By 
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, more abstract theories about the 
natural world were formulated based on scientific discoveries in mechanics, mag- 
netism, sound, light, and electricity. The discovery of X-ray radiation and the atom 
led to the development of crystallography and atomic physics as subfields of phys- 
ics. One of the most famous women scientists, Marie Curie of France, won Nobel 
Prizes in both Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911) for her theory of radioactivity 
and for her isolation of radioactive isotopes. 

One of the earliest American women physicists was Margaret Maltby, who 
was an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but went on 
to earn her Ph.D. from the University of Gottingen in 1895. Maltby 's areas of 
research included radioactivity and the physics of sound. She taught courses in 
chemistry and physics to female students at Barnard College for more than 
30 years. Elizabeth Laird was another one of the earliest professional female 
physicists in the United States, earning her Ph.D. in physics and mathematics from 
Bryn Mawr in 1901. Laird went on to train an entire generation of women in the 



160 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Women and the Manhattan Project 

The Manhattan Project was the U.S. government's secret project to develop 
nuclear weapons during the early years of World War II. The government 
employed military and civilian scientists to research and develop three atomic 
bombs. Many women scientists and engineers were involved in various stages 
of the project, many of them through the Women's Army Corps (WAC), but others 
were scattered as civilians at government research centers and universities 
throughout the country as physicists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians, biolo- 
gists, medical researchers, technicians, and machine operators. Nuclear science, 
and the development of nuclear power, was an exciting new field in the early 
decades of the twentieth century, and not all scientists involved in the project sup- 
ported or fully understood the military intentions for a bomb. Some of the highest- 
level female physicists of that generation were involved in the project, including 
later Nobel Prize winner Maria Goeppert-Mayer, Leona Woods Marshall Libby, 
Chien-Shiung Wu, and Katharine Way, who eventually joined with other scien- 
tists in addressing the ethical uses of and concerns about nuclear power. 



sciences during her 40-year career at Mount Holyoke College. During World War 
II, she returned to her home country of Canada as a physicist in radar development 
and radio techniques for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Dorothy Nickerson was a 
physicist who applied color-graded standards to agricultural and horticultural 
products and soil; she developed the Nickerson color fan of more than 300 color 
samples graded by light value, hue, and chroma, and had a long career with the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture beginning in the 1920s. 

By the mid-twentieth century, there was a great demand for physicists in the 
United States and the development of several specialized subfields for particular 
industries and government/military applications, including optics, astrophysics, 
geophysics, physical chemistry, materials engineering, and nuclear physics. Many 
women worked for the U.S. government on various aspects of the atomic bomb 
project during and after World War II. American scientist Maria Goeppert- 
Mayer was the second woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics; she was co- 
recipient of the prize in 1963 for her work on the structure of atomic nuclei. 
Katharine Blodgett earned her Ph.D. in physics in 1926 and spent her entire 
career in industry, working for General Electric, and her work contributed to two 
world wars; her early research on the ability of activated charcoal to absorb gases 
was important to the design of gas masks during World War I, and during World 
War II she researched ways to de-ice airplane wings and developed a method for 
military weather balloons to measure air humidity. Several women were directly 



Disciplines | 161 




Physicist and electrical engineer, Elsa 
Garmire. (Courtesy of Dartmouth/Kathryn 
LoConte) 



involved in the Manhattan Project, 
the U.S. government project to 
develop the atomic bomb. Katharine 
Way worked at the Naval Ordnance 
Laboratory and the Oak Ridge 
National Laboratory, and also worked 
in atomic physics for the National 
Bureau of Standards and the National 
Research Council; she later joined 
with other prominent scientists to 
warn of the ethical considerations of 
developing and using the atomic 
bomb. Chien-Shiung Wu was one of 
the top women in elementary particle 
physics in the world in the mid- 
twentieth century; she helped develop 
sensitive radiation detectors for the 
atomic bomb project. 

The post- World War II generation of women earning doctorates in physics 
have worked in academia, government and industry on a variety of applications. 
Mildred Dresselhaus is a physicist renowned for her research on electronic prop- 
erties of materials such as semiconductors and semimetals. Doris Kuhlmann- 
Wilsdorf is a metallurgist and materials scientist who holds patents on six 
inventions related to electrical brushes for machines and engines, and Elsa 
Garmire holds 10 patents for her work in laser and optical research. Betsy 
Ancker- Johnson was a solid-state physicist who spent many years at General 
Motors as vice president in charge of environmental policy and was one of the 
early advocates for more fuel-efficient cars. Esther Conwell was head of research 
departments at both GTE and Xerox, and Diana Prichard conducts research on 
fundamental photographic materials as a research scientist for Eastman Kodak 
Company. Caroline Herzenberg used spectrometry to analyze the first lunar sam- 
ples returned to Earth from the Apollo missions. Shirley Ann Jackson achieved 
many firsts in physics: In 1973, she was the first African American woman to 
receive a doctorate in any field from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
and she was the first woman and the first African American to serve as chair of 
the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In 1999, Jackson was 
appointed president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

Other physicists have worked in medical and bioengineering fields. Rosalyn 
Yalow was a physicist and neuroendocrinologist who helped establish modern 
biomedical physics; she was co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or 



162 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Lise Meitner 

Austrian-bom physicist Lise Meitner (1878-1968) made great advances in the 
new field of nuclear physics and collaborated on the discovery of nuclear fission, 
for which her colleague Otto Hahn won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944. 
Meitner attended the University of Vienna and in 1905 was only the second 
woman to receive a doctorate from that institution. She went on to study with 
Max Planck in Berlin and then formed a research group with Hahn at Kaiser Wil- 
helm Institute, where they began their work on radioactive isotopes, work that 
would eventually lead to the creation of nuclear weapons. The Jewish Meitner 
was forced to emigrate to The Netherlands in 1938 to escape the Nazi takeover 
of Austria, eventually finding a position in Stockholm. Although she continued 
her research through correspondence (and even secretly meeting) with Hahn 
and others, and published her own paper in the journal Nature explaining the 
physics of nuclear fission, her exile meant that Hahn was acknowledged sepa- 
rately for his chemical research and Meitner was overlooked by the Nobel Prize 
committee. Twenty years later, colleagues Meitner, Hahn, and Fritz Strassmann 
were co-recipients of the prestigious Enrico Fermi Award of the U.S. Department 
of Energy. 



Medicine in 1977, the second woman to win in that category. Eugenie Mielczarek 
is known for her work in biophysics, and researches metal and biological com- 
pounds, including iron in the blood. Women have contributed to the profession 
of physics in other ways. Mary Warga received her doctorate in spectroscopy in 
1937. After a distinguished career in teaching and research, Warga served the 
physics profession during a period of rapid growth and technological development 
for many years as the first executive secretary of the Optical Society of America. 
Gloria Lubkin held a master's degree in physics and contributed to the profession 
in her 40-year career as editor of Physics Today, the publication of the American 
Institute of Physics. 

Despite the early gains made by a first generation of women physicists before 
and through the 1940s, there was a marked decrease in women's presence in phys- 
ics during the 1950s, when gender roles became more fixed and scientific disci- 
plines more specialized and prestigious. Despite the astonishing accomplishments 
and significance of a few individual women, the representation of women in phys- 
ics throughout the twentieth century was one of the lowest of all sciences, and the 
lowest of the physical or "hard" sciences (physics, chemistry, astronomy, and 
math). In 1972, women earned just 3% of doctorates in physics; by 2003, women 
earned 22% of the bachelor's degrees awarded in physics and just 18% of physics 



Disciplines | 163 

Ph.D.s (Ivie and Ray 2005). In 2006, women made up 12% of all physics faculty, 
but only 6% of full professors; many physics departments still have no women fac- 
ulty at all (Ivie 2006). 

Although there are so few women in physics (and in the physical sciences in 
general, compared to the biological and social sciences), the view that physics is 
a neutral or hard science has protected the field from much feminist analysis or cri- 
tique. As with mathematics, there is also a widely held belief that success in the 
highest levels of the field depends as much upon talent or innate "genius" as upon 
education or training. Physics does, in fact, rely heavily on theoretical abstraction 
and interpretation as much as on the scientific laws of objects; in other words, 
physics involves on some level dealing with metaphysics, and physicists often talk 
about "the face of God," "the God particle," or "the mind of God" in their work 
(Wertheim 1995). As feminist historian of science Londa Schiebinger has charac- 
terized the discipline, physics is often held apart from other scientific endeavors in 
part because it takes as its goal nothing less than "the mastery of the whole world" 
(Schiebinger 1999, 162). Indeed, physics is often considered the most difficult and 
therefore the most prestigious of the sciences. As is often the case, the more presti- 
gious the field, the more hierarchical the profession, and the fewer women are rep- 
resented. 

See also Astronomy and Astrophysics; Chemistry; Crystallography; Engi- 
neering; Mathematics 



References 

Byers, Nina and Gary A. Williams. 2006. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth- 
Century Women to Physics. New York: Cambridge University Press. 

Ivie, Rachel and Kim Nies Ray. 2005. "Women in Physics and Astronomy, 2005. High- 
lights." American Institute of Physics, http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/highlite/ 
women05/women05 .htm. 

Ivie, Rachel. 2006. "Women in Physics and Astronomy Faculty Positions. Highlights." 
American Institute of Physics, http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/highlite/women3/ 
faculty.htm. 

Jones, L. M. 1990. "Intellectual Contributions of Women to Physics." In Women of Sci- 
ence: Righting the Record, edited by G. Kass-Simon and Patricia Fames, 188 214. 
Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

Rayner-Canham, Marelene and Geoffrey Rayner-Canham. 1998. Women in Chemistry: 
Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century. Philadelphia, 
PA: Chemical Heritage Foundation. 

Schiebinger, Londa. 1999. "Physics and Math." In Has Feminism Changed Science?, 
159 180. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 



164 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Wertheim, Margaret. 1995. Pythagoras' Trousers: God, Physics, and the Gender Wars. 
New York: W.W. Norton. 

"Women in Physics." American Institute of Physics, http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/ 
gendertrends.html. 

"Women in Physics." American Physics Society, http://www.aps.org/programs/women/ 
index. cfm. 

Plant Sciences 

See Botany 



Primatology 

Primatology is the study of the biology, behavior, and evolution of nonhuman pri- 
mates. As the study of animals, primatology is related to zoology, but also often 
overlaps with and directly informs studies of human biology and behavior in fields 
such as anthropology, biomedical research, genetics, psychology, and evolutionary 
biology. Primatology began as a separate field of study inspired by the work of 
Charles Darwin in the mid-nineteenth century and an interest in the behavior, com- 
munication, habitats, and evolution of humankind's closest relatives. This interest 
was combined with the development of anthropology as a scientific discipline, 
and shares many of the same methods and tools. Primatologists work in laborato- 
ries, in zoos or other captive habitat settings, and in the wild or natural habitats in 
Africa, South America, or other locations. There are several major primate research 
centers in the United States, both university-affiliated and privately run. 

Women have featured prominently in primatology since the 1960s, including as 
some of the most famous primatologists of the twentieth century. A trio of women 
were influenced and trained by famed British archaeologists and anthropologists 
Louis and Mary Leakey: British researcher Jane Goodall is perhaps the most well 
known for her work with chimpanzees, German-Canadian Birute Galdikas is an 
authority on orangutans, and American Dian Fossey devoted her life to the study 
and protection of mountain gorillas. These scientists pioneered the study of primates 
as individuals and as members of complex social and familial networks, applying the 
tools of human-based studies in anthropology, psychology, and sociology. 

Since the 1970s, so many women have entered into primatology that it has been 
perceived as a "women's" field. Whereas no women held doctorates in primatol- 
ogy before 1960, by the 1990s, women earned nearly 80% of Ph.D. s in primatol- 
ogy (Schiebinger 1999, 126). One explanation for women's predominance in this 
field is that primatology is a relatively new field and so women did not face 



Disciplines | 165 



Birute Galdikas 

Birute Marija Filomena Galdikas (b. 1946) is a German-born primatologist and 
ecologist who is the world's leading authority on the orangutan, now an endan- 
gered species due to poaching and habitat destruction. She is president of the 
Orangutan Foundation International (http://www.orangutan.org) and since 1971 
has served as head of the orangutan research station at Tanjung Puting Reserve 
in Borneo. Galdikas is one of three pioneering women primatologists of the twen- 
tieth century, along with Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, who worked with 
anthropologist Louis Leakey to study the three major primate groups — the gorilla, 
the chimpanzee, and the orangutan. The work of these women changed the meth- 
ods by which primatologists conduct research by studying animals as individuals, 
with life and family histories. 

Galdikas's family fled Europe after World War II and emigrated to Toronto, 
Canada. She began her studies at the University of British Columbia, but then 
transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles. She met Leakey when 
he spoke to one of her graduate anthropology classes, and she volunteered 
for his project of studying wild orangutans in Borneo and rehabilitating those ille- 
gally held in captivity. Her research on orangutans became a lifetime commitment, 
for the animals have a life span of 50 to 60 years. Galdikas has been profiled in 
numerous articles, books, and television shows. Her autobiography is Reflections 
of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo (1995). 



historical bias in the profession. Another explanation, however, is that primatology 
is closely related to other fields in which women also have significant representa- 
tion, such as anthropology, psychology, or other animal sciences. Finally, it must 
be acknowledged that high-profile women such as Jane Goodall (who has also 
launched a successful global education campaign) provide strong role models for 
young girls and women considering scientific professions, and have interested 
many in primatology (Fedigan 1994). 

The work of primatologists has had a significant influence on our understanding 
of gender roles and biases among humans as well. Primatologists begin by rejecting 
the idea that human assumptions and social roles apply to the animal world, and 
instead look at the ways the lives of the great apes inform our understanding of 
human development and evolution. Female primatologists have also often shifted 
the focus of scientific research to female primates as subjects of study, focusing 
on individual behavior, sexuality, family groups, and care of offspring. They have 
uncovered greater roles for female primates beyond stereotypical submissive child- 
bearers and thus have called into question the idea of a "natural" sexual division of 
labor or submissive sexual or maternal roles among humans as well. For more than 



166 | American Women of Science since 1900 




Anthropologist and primatologist, Meredith Small. (Courtesy of Cornell University) 

40 years, Jeanne Altmann has studied the impact of genetics, demography, and 
behavior on issues such as mate choice and care of offspring among baboons in 
the wild. Meredith Small also studies mating and childrearing among primates, 
and her research has informed her several popular books and articles on human 
behavior and evolutionary biology, especially on the topic of mothering. Sarah 
Blaffer Hrdy is also an evolutionary biologist and primatologist who has written 
several controversial works on infanticide among primates, on gender and evolu- 
tion, and on motherhood. 

See also Anthropology and Archaeology; Biology; Biomedical Sciences; 
Genetics; Paleontology; Psychiatry and Psychology; Zoology 



References 

Fedigan, Linda Marie. 1994. "Science and the Successful Female: Why There Are So Many 
Women Primatologists." American Anthropologist. 96(3): 529 538. (September 1994). 

Haraway, Donna. 1989. Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of 
Modern Science. London and New York: Routledge. 

Schiebinger, Londa. 1999. "Primatology, Archaeology, and Human Origins." In Has Femi- 
nism Changed Science?, 126 144. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 

Schubert, Glendon A. and Roger D. Masters, eds. 1991. Primate Politics. Carbondale: 
Southern Illinois University Press. 



Disciplines | 167 

Strum, Shirley Carol and Linda Marie Fedigan, eds. 2000. Primate Encounters: Models of 
Science, Gender, and Society. University of Chicago Press. 



Psychology and Psychiatry 

Psychology and psychiatry are applied sciences that rely upon both qualitative and 
quantitative tools and methods for the scientific study of the human mind. 
Psychology is the analysis of human behavior, personality, perception, emotions, 
and cognition, and seeks to understand both the conscious and unconscious motiva- 
tions behind responses to social and individual situations and relationships. Psychol- 
ogists may address issues related to family life, child development, sexuality, life 
stages, transitions, choices, and so forth, as well as mental-health issues such as 
depression, anxiety, or fears. A professional psychologist usually holds a Ph.D., 
but some therapists may hold a master's degree or other certification in psychology, 
social work, or counseling. Psychiatry combines the behavioral, social, and medical 
sciences to understand behavior and mental health, including mental disorders and 
diseases. A psychiatrist has completed medical training for the M.D. degree and 
may prescribe drugs to patients; she may also hold a Ph.D. Psychiatric specialties 
include cognitive or developmental psychology, neuroscience and brain research, 
psychometrics (quantitative analyses such as educational, intelligence, or aptitude 
testing), psychopathology, and psychotherapy. Both psychologists and psychiatrists 
may also specialize in a particular subset of patients (such as women, children, ado- 
lescents, or gays and lesbians) or on particular issues, and may be employed in a 
variety of settings, including academic research, private therapy practice, hospitals, 
mental-health facilities, schools, corporations, or other institutions. 

Early studies of human behavior were encompassed within the field of philoso- 
phy. It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that psychology developed as a 
separate scientific field of study; in the United States, William James is often consid- 
ered the founder of modern American psychology. The American Psychiatric Asso- 
ciation (http://www.psych.org) was founded in 1844 and the American 
Psychological Association (http://www.apa.org) in 1892. Mary Whiton Calkins 
was the first female president of the American Psychological Association in 1905, 
and the second was Margaret Floy Washburn in 1921. The gender bias that lim- 
ited women's opportunities throughout the sciences, however, was justified by the 
new psychological science, with male psychologists warning that women were intel- 
lectually inferior and that "mental exertion" was damaging to women's health. 
Psychologist and neurologist Helen Thompson Woolley (who published a book, 
The Mental Traits of Sex, in 1903) voiced the frustrations of a woman scientist at 
that time in her 1910 review of the psychological literature, concluding, "There is 



168 | American Women of Science since 1900 



Dorothea Dix 

Dorothea Lynde Dix (1 802-1 887) was a reformer and nurse who is best-known for 
her work organizing and training volunteer nurses during the American Civil War. 
Dix began her career as a teacher, but her own poor health forced her to give up 
teaching and focus on writing instead. She published a science textbook as well 
as stories for children. She traveled to London and was introduced to the ideas 
of prison and health reformers, convincing her to visit prisons back in the United 
States to examine the terrible conditions under which the "insane" were kept. 
She enlisted the help of other prominent Massachusetts reformers to expose the 
abuse, starvation, and torture of the mentally ill, leading to the establishment of 
the Worcester Insane Asylum (later the Worcester State Hospital), the first institu- 
tion of its kind. Dix then took the campaign to establish mental health hospitals to 
other states and to Canada, Japan, and Europe. In 1 861 , she served in an official 
military role as superintendent of nurses for the Union Army. She spent the final 
years of her life living on the grounds of the New Jersey State Hospital. 



perhaps no field aspiring to be scientific where flagrant personal bias, logic martyred 
in the cause of supporting a prejudice, unfounded assertions, and even sentimental 
rot and drivel, have run riot to such an extent as here" (Benjamin 2007, 178). 

In the twentieth century, the views of thinkers such as Sigmund Freud (who 
defined women's primary mental state as one of jealousy of men) came to define 
psychological theories about women for several more generations. Still, women 
made great inroads into the profession, and early female psychologists created 
new research fields related to women's education, motherhood, and child welfare. 
Leta Hollingworth received her Ph.D. in 1916 and was a pioneer in the psychol- 
ogy and education of women and children; like Woolley, she found that there was 
no differences between the sexes when it came to intellectual ability. June Etta 
Downey (Ph.D., 1907) developed one of the earliest scientific personality tests to 
assess character traits separate from the question of intelligence, and Florence 
Goodenough (Ph.D., 1924) conducted early research on intelligence testing in 
children. In the next generation, Eleanor Gibson (Ph.D., 1938) also focused on 
learning and perception in young children, and Eleanor Maccoby (Ph.D., 1950) 
continued the work on intelligence tests and the developmental and social psychol- 
ogy of young children as related to gender differences. 

Women psychologists in academia have taught in departments of psychology or 
sociology, political science, education, child development, and home economics, 
but psychologists are also employed in schools, childcare centers, government 
and policymaking institutions, industry, and hospitals. By 1940, women made up 



Disciplines | 169 



only 26% of college and university faculty in psychology, but they accounted for 
51% of employed psychologists in schools, clinics, and counseling and mental- 
health centers (APA "Appendix A"). Women received 23% of U.S. doctorates in 
psychology from 1920 to 1974 (APA "Women in Academe"), but there was a strik- 
ing racial difference, as most of these were white women. In roughly that same era 
of growth, between 1920 and 1950, only eight black women earned Ph.D.s in psy- 
chology or Ed.D.s in educational psychology (out of a total of 32 African Ameri- 
cans earning doctorates in psychology) (APA "Appendix A"). The first of these 
was Inez Prosser, who earned an Ed.D. from the University of Cincinnati in 1933, 
but whose career was cut short by her early and tragic death. The following year, 
in 1934, Ruth Howard-Beckham became the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. 
in psychology. Few black women overall earned higher degrees in psychology, 
and few had careers in academia, until after the 1970s. 

Psychology now accounts for the highest numbers of doctorates awarded each 
year in any field, and is the one scientific field in which women, since the 1960s, have 
earned an overwhelming majority of degrees granted. In 2006, women earned 77% of 
bachelor's degrees in psychology (NSF Table C- 14) and an astonishing 7 1 .3% of doc- 
torates (NSF Table F-2). In sheer numbers, only the biological or life sciences 
account for more doctorates to women, 
but in those fields, men still earn about 
half of the degrees awarded. 

Since the 1970s and 1980s, women 
have worked within a variety of 
psychological research fields, over- 
lapping with work in industrial 
psychology (Lillian Gilbreth), 
linguistics (Lila Gleitman and 
Barbara Partee), the anthropology 
and sociology of death (Elizabeth 
Kubler-Ross), addiction (Judianne 
Densen-Gerber), disability (Phyllis 
Harrison-Ross), counseling and 
social work (Carolyn Payton, who 
served as director of the Peace Corps), 
neuroscience (Nancy Kanwisher and 
Elizabeth Spelke), and the human 
relationship to computers (Sherry 
Turkle). Other popular psychologists 
have become well-known media fig- 
ures, such as Joyce Brothers and 




Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1970. She 
specialized in the study of the experience of 
dying and death. (AP/Wide World Photos) 



170 | American Women of Science since 1900 

Ruth Westheimer. Both Brothers and Westheimer focused on family, relationships, 
and sexuality, as did Virginia Johnson in her work on sexual behavior and Elaine 
Hatfield in her studies on love, sex, and choices of marital partners. 

Like medical researchers, psychologists and psychiatrists also address the ques- 
tion of women as subjects or patients. Therapists and researchers deal with a range 
of issues of concern to women as patients, and research topics include family life, 
depression, sexuality, domestic violence, sexual abuse, gender identity, parenting, 
marriage, lifespan issues, transitions, career issues, and trauma and grief counsel- 
ing. The Society for the Psychology of Women (a division of the APA, http:// 
www.apa.org/divisions/div35) was founded in 1973 as "a voice of feminist issues 
within organized psychology." The division publishes a newsletter, The Feminist 
Psychologist, and compiles biographical information on important women in psy- 
chology. The Association for Women in Psychology (http://www.awpsych.org) 
was co-founded in 1976 by Phyllis Chesler, not just as a source for professional 
networking, but with an explicitly feminist approach to psychological and psychi- 
atric practice and education. 

Some feminist psychologists, such as Chesler and Naomi Weisstein, have cri- 
tiqued the psychological definition of femininity itself as a form of mental ill- 
ness; that is, the tendency to characterize all women as submissive, docile, and 
overly emotional. Whether it is barrenness, pathological sexual desire (which 
could be anything from lesbianism to too much interest in sex), or pathological 
mothering, women's mental state and stability has often been explicitly con- 
nected with sexuality and reproduction; even the word hysteria is derived from 
the womb. Current research shows that women are more likely than men to suf- 
fer from mental-health disorders, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, 
and social phobias. Studies in the mid-1990s found that women were twice as 
likely as men to suffer from depression, and that female patients received 70% 
of prescriptions for antidepressant drugs (APA "Briefing"). The question is 
whether women are being misdiagnosed due to gender bias, or whether there 
is, indeed, an epidemic of female depression and other ailments as a response 
to gender role expectations, sexual or physical abuse, the stresses and isolation 
of mothering, or a lack of fulfillment in the lives of modern women (see also 
Caplan and Cosgrove 2004). 

Feminist practitioners and researchers have tried to separate the biological or 
medical issues from the psychosocial causes of women's mental-health concerns. 
For example, research in the late twentieth century found that while the psychological 
effects of stress, role expectation, isolation, and discrimination affect women's men- 
tal health, conditions such as premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or postpartum depres- 
sion have a biological or chemical component that needs to be taken seriously as a 
medical issue. Women are still told that their illnesses and symptoms are "all in their 



Disciplines | 171 

head," leading to misdiagnosis and lack of treatment for diseases that have come to be 
associated with women, such as lupus, chronic fatigue, and even some allergies. 
See also Anthropology and Archaeology; Neuroscience; Sociology 

References 

American Psychological Association (APA). "Briefing Sheet Women and Depression." 
Government Relations. Public Interest Policy, http://www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/ 
women/depression. aspx. 

American Psychological Association (APA). "Women in Academe: Two Steps Forward, 
One Step Back." Public Interest. Women's Programs Office, http://www.apa.org/pi/ 
women/programs/academe/taskforce-report.pdf. 

American Psychological Association (APA). "Appendix A: A Brief History of Women Fac- 
ulty in Psychology, Women in Academe: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back." Public 
Interest. Women's Programs Office, http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/academe/ 
taskforce-report.pdf. 

Benjamin, Ludy T. 2007. A Brief History of Modern Psychology. Oxford, UK: Blackwell 
Publishing. 

Caplan, Paula J. and Lisa Cosgrove, eds. 2004. Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis. Lanham, 
MD: Rowman & Littlefield. 

Capshew, James H. 1999. "Home Fires: Female Psychologists and the Politics of Gender." 
In Psychologists on the March: Science, Practice and Professional Identity in America, 
1929 1969, 71 90. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 

Guthrie, Robert V. 2004. Even the Rat Was White: A Historical View of Psychology. Boston, 
MA: Allyn and Bacon. 

National Science Foundation. "Table F-2. S&E doctoral degrees awarded to women, by field: 
1999 2006." Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineer- 
ing. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of 
Earned Doctorates, 1999 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabf-2.pdf. 

National Science Foundation. 2006. "Table C-14. Bachelor's degrees, by race/ethnicity, 
citizenship, sex, and field: 2006."Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in 
Science and Engineering. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources 
Statistics, special tabulations of U.S. Department of Education, National Center for 
Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Completions 
Survey, 2006. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/pdf/tabc-14.pdf. 



Sociology 

Sociology is the scientific study of human interactions and social organization, 
and may be informed by or based in research in other quantitative social science 
fields, such as political science, anthropology, psychology, economics, or 



172 | American Women of Science since 1900 

medicine and public health. Topics of focus for sociologists may include 
gender, sexuality, race or ethnicity, workplace, family, healthcare, the media 
and popular culture, religion, the military, prisons, or schools, to name a few. 
Historically, sociological inquiry was encompassed within philosophy and 
political philosophy, which sought to understand the nature of human interac- 
tions and society. The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries brought 
massive social changes in the form of industrialization, migration, urbanization, 
poverty, and the democratization of politics and religion. Like other scientific dis- 
ciplines, sociology was professionalized as a separate field of study in the late nine- 
teenth century; the first sociology courses were taught in the 1890s, and the 
American Journal of Sociology was founded in 1895. The American Socio- 
logical Association was founded in 1905. Sociologists may work in academia, or 
in a variety of positions in social work, nonprofits, politics, business, and media 
or communications. 

The feminist movement of the 1970s and 1980s brought new questions and new 
methods to sociology, similar to the critiques and changes made in anthropology, 
psychology, or other social sciences. By the late 1970s, many colleges and univer- 
sities were offering new courses in the sociology of women and, indeed, sociology 
and sociological theory often serve as the foundation or core of interdisciplinary 
Women's and Gender Studies programs and departments. Professional groups 
specifically for women sociologists or sociologists of women's issues include 
Sociologists for Women in Society (http://www.socwomen.org), which also pub- 
lishes a journal, Gender and Society, and the American Sociological Association's 
(ASA) Committee on the Status of Women in Sociology (http://www.asanet.org/ 
about/statuscommittees/women.cfm). 

As in the field of psychology, women have earned a majority of undergraduate 
degrees in sociology since the mid-1960s and, since the 1980s, women have consis- 
tently earned as high as 70% of sociology bachelor's degrees. The rate at which 
women have earned sociology doctorates, however, has been slower but more dra- 
matic, with women earning only 16% of Ph.D. s in 1966 but 59% of Ph.D. s by the 
year 2000. It is difficult to trace a direct connection between undergraduate and 
graduate study, however, as many students may see a sociology bachelor's degree 
as a terminal degree, or as a foundation for graduate work in other social or natural 
science fields. Those who go on for a doctorate in sociology overwhelmingly work 
in academia; only 17% of new sociology Ph.D.s in the early 2000s were employed 
in nonacademic positions, and 8 out of 10 ASA members in 2001 were employed in 
academic teaching positions (CSWS 2009). 

Feminist sociologists incorporate race, ethnicity, class, and gender into 
research on issues that affect women, such as motherhood, work/life balance, 
the household division of labor, poverty, welfare reform, childcare, gender 



Disciplines | 173 




discrimination in the workplace and 
society, sexual harassment, the law, 
sexuality, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisex- 
ual, and transgender) issues, illness, 
and aging. Maxine Baca Zinn con- 
ducts sociological work on Latino 
families and Mexican American 
women. Jacquelyne Jackson earned 
her Ph.D. in 1960 and has conducted 
research and created a documentary 
film on minority aging and the needs 
of elderly African Americans. Matilda 
Riley was an earlier-generation 
female sociologist (receiving a mas- 
ter's degree from Radcliffe College 
in 1937) and was also an authority on 
aging and on the need for employ- 
ment opportunities and meaningful 
work for the elderly. Other sociolo- 
gists have focused on work and the 
workplace. Rosabeth Kanter studied 
the human aspects of corporate cul- 
ture, management, and job performance. Dorothy Nelkin did not hold an 
advanced degree (she received a B.A. in sociology from Cornell University 
in 1954), but she became a researcher and eventually a faculty member at 
New York University studying workplace safety and risk assessment in a variety 
of occupations. 

Barbara Reskin was inspired by the women's and civil rights movements at 
the time she received her doctorate (in 1973) to study sexual and racial inequality 
in the workplace, including issues of racial and gender segregation, discrimina- 
tion in hiring and promotion, and work/life issues for female professionals 
(including women scientists). Jane Ava Menken received her Ph.D. in 1975 
and combined her background in mathematics and statistics as a demographer 
who interprets numbers and trends related to government policy and reproductive 
rights. Sherry Turkle, also of this generation (receiving her Ph.D. in 1976), com- 
bined interests in sociology and psychology in her pioneering research on human 
interactions with computers and how computer use shapes our identities and 
behavior. 

See also Anthropology and Archaeology; Economics; Geography; Psychol- 
ogy and Psychiatry 



Demographer and sociologist, Jane Ava 
Menken. (Courtesy of the University of 
Colorado) 



174 | American Women of Science since 1900 

References 

Committee on the Status of Women in Sociology (CSWS). "2009 Report of the American 
Sociological Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Sociology." American 
Sociological Association. http://www.asanet.org/about/statuscommittees/DOCS 
- 65911-v2-Council Aug 09 Final Rpt Status Comm on Women.pdf. 

Zoology 

Zoology is the biological study of animals and their physical characteristics, 
behavior, and evolution. Modern zoology is a broad field that overlaps signifi- 
cantly with various subspecialties within biology, and with interdisciplinary stud- 
ies in the ecological, environmental, and evolutionary sciences. Zoologists may 
also focus on specific groups or species of animals, such as invertebrate zoology, 
entomology (insects), ichthyology (fish), herpetology (reptiles), ornithology 
(birds), mammalogy (mammals), primatology (nonhuman primates), and subfields 
or specialties within those groups. Because of the broad term of "zoology" applied 
to this range of fields and research topics, many early women zoologists were 
identified as biologists, naturalists, or specimen collectors and museum curators. 
Modern zoology begins with the classification and naming (taxonomy) of plants 
and animals under Carl Linnaeus 's system in the eighteenth century. Linnaeus, a 
Swedish botanist, introduced the system of assigning a genus and a species name 
to every living organism. In the nineteenth century, naturalist and conservation 
efforts led to the creation of the first zoos and zoological societies. Charles 
Darwin's theories of adaptation and evolution in his On the Origin of Species 
(1859) also had a major impact on zoological research and taxonomy, and techno- 
logical and scientific advances (such as in genetics and cell biology) set the course 
for zoological research in the twentieth century. 

In the twentieth century, zoology became a popular field of study for women in 
the sciences. In 1938, a survey of employed scientists listed more women in zoology 
than any other discipline (followed closely by botany as the second choice). The 
greatest number of these pre- 1940 female zoologists were employed at two wom- 
en's colleges, Wellesley and Mount Holyoke, even though the greatest number of 
women holding doctorates in zoology had been trained in programs at the Univer- 
sity of California, Berkeley and at Columbia University in New York (Rossiter 
1982, 170, 184). Ethel Harvey received her Ph.D. from Columbia in 1913 and 
made significant breakthroughs in cell biology with her research on sea urchins. 
Libbie Hyman received her Ph.D. in 1915 from the University of Chicago and pub- 
lished several zoology textbooks and a multivolume work on invertebrates; she was 
elected president of the Society for Systematic Zoology in 1959. Alice Boring 
(Ph.D., Bryn Mawr, 1910) was a zoologist who spent most of her career in China 



Disciplines | 175 



Maria Sibylla Merian 

German-bom Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was a naturalist and scientific 
illustrator who became well-known for her detailed studies and drawings of plants, 
flowers, and insects. One of the first naturalists to study insects firsthand, she 
made important early contributions to the field of entomology, informing the later 
classification efforts of Carl Linnaeus. She published several books of nature 
and plant drawings, and, in 1679, already the mother of two daughters, she pub- 
lished her work on The Caterpillar, Marvelous Transformation and Strange Floral 
Food. This was the first work to trace the development of caterpillars into butter- 
flies, with detailed information on their plant food needs at each stage. Living pri- 
marily in Amsterdam, in the early 1700s, Merian traveled to the Dutch colony of 
Suriname with her daughter, where she recorded notes and sketches of local 
plant, animal, and insect life, and collected specimens to study and sell back in 
The Netherlands. 

Although Merian's work was groundbreaking, and her books were popular and 
sold well, she was not always acknowledged by the male scientific community 
because she did not publish in Latin. Still, several species of plants and insects 
were named in her honor, and her beautiful botanical illustrations and engravings 
have been enjoyed by students of science as well as art. 



and made significant contributions to the literature on the taxonomy of Chinese 
amphibians and reptiles. Hope Hibbard also earned a doctorate from Bryn Mawr 
(1921) and was a cell biologist who conducted early tissue studies of marine inver- 
tebrates. Roger Arliner Young researched sea urchin eggs and other organisms, 
and was the first African American woman to earn a degree in zoology (from the 
University of Pennsylvania in 1940). 

Ornithology, especially, seemed to be an outgrowth of women's early interest in 
nature observation and wildlife preservation. Florence Bailey did not hold an 
advanced degree, but published several books on natural history, wildlife, and 
birds in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Frances Hamerstrom 
held a master's degree in wildlife biology and wrote several popular books, child- 
ren's books, and autobiographies about her work observing the habitats of ground 
birds and birds of prey. Margaret Nice was trained in psychology and extended 
her work to the study of the behavior of birds. Other zoologists also combined 
their research on animals with not only species-preservation efforts but also envi- 
ronmental and ecological messages about the interrelationship between human 
and animal species and habitats. Ann Haven Morgan (Ph.D., 1911) studied the 
biology and ecology of freshwater animals and insects. Renowned ecologist 



176 | American Women of Science since 1900 




Ornithologist, Margaret Morse Nice, 1944. She adapted the scientific techniques of 
psychology to new research on bird behavior. (AP/Wide World Photos) 



Rachel Carson held a master's degree in zoology (from Johns Hopkins in 1932) 
and began her career as an aquatic biologist. Lucille Stickel earned her Ph.D. in 
zoology in 1949 and was a pioneer in the study of pesticides and chemical residues 
found in animal brain tissue. 

Women were also prominent in entomology in the early twentieth century. 
Isabel McCracken was an entomologist and zoologist (Ph.D., Stanford, 1908) 
who conducted research and published scientific papers on the genetics of beetles 
and on birds of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Entomologist Annette Braun 
(Ph.D., University of Cincinnati, 1911) and her sister, botanist Lucy Braun, com- 
bined their scientific interests on joint research expeditions and preservation 
efforts. Edith Patch (Ph.D., Cornell, 1911) studied the life histories and ecology 
of migratory aphids, and in 1936 was elected the first female president of the Ento- 
mological Society of America. Elizabeth Peckham was an early entomologist 



Disciplines | 177 

who, in collaboration with her husband, had a significant career researching the 
social lives of wasps before returning to earn her doctorate later in life; she earned 
a Ph.D. from Cornell in 1916 at the age of 62. Bertha Cady also earned her Ph.D. 
later in life, receiving a doctorate from Stanford University in 1923 at the age of 50; 
Cady was trained as an entomologist, but her research and teaching interests 
included natural history and psychology. 

In the later twentieth century, women entomologists continued to contribute to 
scientific research and to apply their studies to problems in agriculture and other 
industries. Mary Jane West-Eberhard is a renowned entomologist who has stud- 
ied the evolution of social behavior of paper-wasps and other insects, primarily in 
Central and South America. Entomologist May Berenbaum has focused on the 
unexplained reductions in the honey bee population in the early twenty-first cen- 
tury, launching a public campaign to highlight the importance of bees not only 
for supplies of honey and wax, but for pollination of other plants, flowers, and food 
crops. Marjorie Hoy is an entomologist who pioneered the development of new 
methods for insect control in food crop plants. 

Other zoologists focus on specific large animal species. Francesca La Monte 
did not hold an advanced degree, but spent her entire career as an ichthyologist 
at the American Museum of Natural History researching and developing exhibits 
on marlin, swordfish, and other species. Eugenie Clark holds a Ph.D. in zoology 
and has specialized in sharks. Cynthia Moss is a renowned wildlife biologist 
who is an expert on the African elephant; with colleague Joyce Poole (who holds a 
Ph.D. in animal behavior) she has also led the fight to stop the world trade in ivory. 
Primatologists may be trained in zoology or in specialized fields, such as animal 
behavior and development. Jeanne Altmann and Dian Fossey are both primatol- 
ogists who have also combined scientific research with public education and pres- 
ervation efforts to protect the large primates from poaching and habitat 
destruction. 

Finally, the work of many zoologists and animal biologists has informed medi- 
cal research on human health and disease. Florence Peebles was one of the ear- 
liest cell biologists and zoologists (Ph.D., Bryn Mawr, 1900); her work on the 
embryology of chicks informed tissue-regeneration research in both plants and 
animals. Early zoologist Elizabeth Adams received her Ph.D. in 1926 and taught 
some of the first courses in heredity and in human embryology and the reproduc- 
tive system. Margaret Lewis was an embryologist and zoologist who worked in 
the early decades of the twentieth century on in vitro mammalian tissue cultures 
to study tumor growth. Mary Jane Guthrie was also a cell biologist and mamma- 
lian zoologist who created in vitro ovaries to understand how tumors begin. 
Salome Waelsch earned a Ph.D. in Germany in 1932 and was another early mam- 
malian geneticist who focused on genetic mutations of mice spines and tails; she 



178 | American Women of Science since 1900 

later researched the hereditary nature of blood cells and chromosomal defects that 
affect liver function. Also trained in Germany, Berta Scharrer studied inverte- 
brate zoology and with her scientist husband pioneered a new field of neuroendo- 
crinology. In the 1940s and 1950s, zoologist Dorothy Pitelka was one of the 
earliest cell researchers to use the electron microscope, and her research on simple 
organisms contributed to the understanding of cancer-causing viruses. In the late 
twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, there is not always a clear distinction 
between zoology and research that is now regularly conducted (using animal 
experiments, tissues, and cultures) in departments of microbiology, cell biology, 
genetics, and other biomedical specialties. 

See also Animal Sciences; Biology; Biomedical Sciences; Environmental 
Sciences and Ecology; Genetics; Ocean Sciences; Primatology 

References 

Norwood, Vera. 1993. Made From This Earth: American Women and Nature. Chapel Hill: 
University of North Carolina Press. 

Riley, Glenda. 1999. Women and Nature: Saving the "Wild" West. Lincoln: University of 
Nebraska Press. 

Rossiter, Margaret. 1982. Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940. 
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 



A 



Aberle, Sophie Bledsoe 



1896 1996 

Nutritionist, Anthropologist 

Education: A.B., Stanford University, 1923, M.S., 1925, Ph.D., genetics, 1927; 
M.D., Yale University, 1930 

Professional Experience: assistant histologist, Stanford University, 1924-1925, 
assistant embryologist and neurologist, 1925-1926; instructor, anthropology, 
Institute of Human Relations, Yale University, 1927-1930, Sterling Fellow, School 
of Medicine, 1930-1931, instructor, 1930-1934; research associate, Carnegie 
Institute, 1934-1935; superintendent of Pueblo Indians, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
and secretary, Southwest Superintendents Council, 1935-1944; division of medical 
science, National Research Council, 1944-1949; special research director, University 
of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 1949-1954; chief nutritionist, Bernalillo County 
Indian Hospital, 1953-1966; staff member, psychiatry, medical school, University 
of New Mexico, 1966-1970 

Sophie Aberle enjoyed a remarkable career that included working as an anthropolo- 
gist, a physician, a nutritionist, and a psychiatrist. Starting about 1935, when she 
held a position with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Aberle became visible as an 
advocate for the Pueblo people in all areas of their lives, including health, educa- 
tion, culture, and living conditions. Her book, The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, 
Their Land, Economy and Civil Organization, was published by the American 
Anthropological Association in 1948, and argued that retaining rights to their land 
was essential for Pueblo economic survival, as livestock farming was their primary 
source of financial, cultural, and tribal stability. She was married to William A. 
Brophy, who was a lawyer for the Pueblo Indians and served as U.S. Commissioner 
of Indian Affairs between 1945 and 1948. Together, Brophy and Aberle published a 
collection of reports on The Indian: America's Unfinished Business (1966; 
reprinted, 2001). 

Aberle worked at both the local and national levels on such projects as the upper 
Rio Grande drainage basin committee; consultant for the health committee of the 



179 



180 | Aberle, Sophie Bledsoe 




Sophie Aberle, anthropologist, nutritionist, and physician. (Harry S. Truman Presidential 
Library) 



All Indian Pueblo Council; member of New Mexico Nutrition Committee; member 
of the Committee of Maternal and Infant Mortality; member of White House 
Conference on Children in Democracy; chair of the board of directors for the South- 
west Field Training School for Federal Service; member and later executive director 
of the Commission on Rights, Liberties, and Responsibilities of American Indians; 
director of a survey of Indian Education for the Bureau of Indian Affairs; consul- 
tant to the All Indian Pueblo Council on computer-assisted instruction programs; 
consultant for Stanford University's study of Indian education; and consultant 
for the bilingual/bicultural project of the Bernalillo School District. She served 
on the board of directors of numerous organizations such as Planned Parenthood, 
the county YWCA, and the Bernalillo County Indian Hospital. 

Aberle was the first woman member of the National Science Board (the policy- 
making body for the National Science Foundation), serving on the board from 
1950 to 1957. She was a member of the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science, American Anthropological Association, and the American Medical 
Association. 



Abriola, Linda M. | 181 



Abriola, Linda M. 



b. 1954 

Civil Engineer 

Education: B.S., civil engineering, Drexel University, 1976; M.S., civil engineer- 
ing, Princeton University, 1979, M.A., 1980, Ph.D., civil engineering, 1983 

Professional Experience: project engineer, Procter and Gamble Manufacturing 
Co., New York, 1976-1978; research and teaching assistant, Princeton University, 
1979-1983, postdoctoral researcher, civil engineering, 1983; assistant to associate 
professor, civil and environmental engineering, University of Michigan, Ann 
Arbor, 1984-1996, director, Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Pro- 
gram, 1996-2001, professor, 1996-2003, Horace Williams King Collegiate Profes- 
sorship, 2001-2003; dean and professor, civil and environmental engineering, and 
adjunct professor, chemical and biological engineering, Tufts University, 2003- 

Concurrent Positions: visiting associate professor, petroleum engineering, 
University of Texas, Austin, 1991; 
visiting scientist, geotechnical engi- 
neering, Universitat Politecnica de 
Cataluna, Barcelona, Spain, 1992 

Linda Abriola is a civil engineer whose 
research combines laboratory experi- 
ments and mathematical modeling of 
organic chemical liquid contaminants. 
She is one of the leaders of the Inte- 
grated Multiphase Environmental 
Systems (IMPES) laboratory at Tufts 
University, where she has been on the 
faculty and has been dean of engineer- 
ing since 2003. She received her doc- 
torate from Princeton in 1979 and, 
before her affiliation with Tufts, was 
professor and director of the Environ- 
mental and Water Resources Engineer- 
ing Program at the University of 
Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

Abriola was elected to the National 
Academy of Engineering in 2003. Her CM engineer, Linda Abriola. (Courtesy of 
numerous awards include a National Tufts University) 




182 | Ackerman, Bernice 

Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award (1985), the Associa- 
tion for Women Geoscientist's Outstanding Educator Award (1996), the National 
Ground Water Association's Distinguished Darcy Lectureship (1996), and the 
SERDP Project of the Year Award in Environmental Restoration (2006). She is 
a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and has been a member and invited 
participant of committees for the National Academy of Engineering, U.S. Envi- 
ronmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Department of Energy, and the National 
Research Council, including the NRC Committee on Gender Differences in 
Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty. 

Further Resources 

Tufts University. Faculty website, http://engineering.tufts.edu/cee/people/abriola/. 

Tufts University. Integrated Multiphase Environmental Systems Laboratory (IMPES). 
http://engineering.tufts.edu/cee/impes/. 



Ackerman, Bernice 

1924 1995 
Meteorologist 

Education: B.S., meteorology, University of Chicago, 1948, M.S., meteorology, 
1955, Ph.D., geophysical science, 1965 

Professional Experience: meteorologist and hydrologist, U.S. Weather Bureau, 
1948-1953; research associate, Cloud Physics Laboratory, University of Chicago, 
1953-1965, assistant professor, meteorology, 1965-1967; associate professor, 
meteorology, Texas A&M University, 1967-1970; associate meteorologist, 
Atmospheric Sciences Section, Argonne National Laboratory, 1970-1972; senior 
meteorologist, Illinois State Water Survey, University of Illinois, 1972-1978, prin- 
cipal scientist, 1978-1989, head of meteorology section, 1980-1989 

Bernice Ackerman was a meteorologist at a time when the field was almost exclu- 
sively the domain of male scientists. During World War II, the U.S. government 
began to train women as meteorologists and hydrologists to make more men avail- 
able for military service. Some of the female meteorologists, such as Ackerman, 
were members of the U.S. Navy's Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency 
Services (WAVES), while others were civilian employees. Ackerman was the first 
woman weather forecaster in the United States, the only woman research meteor- 
ologist in the Cloud Physics Laboratory at the University of Chicago, and the first 
woman meteorologist at Argonne National Laboratory. After her wartime service 



Adams, (Amy) Elizabeth | 183 

as a weather observer and flight briefer with WAVES, she attended the University 
of Chicago, where she received a bachelor's degree in meteorology with a minor in 
mathematics. She worked for the U.S. Weather Bureau for several years before 
returning to the University of Chicago to complete her master's degree. She stayed 
at Chicago as a research associate while completing her doctorate in geophysical 
sciences, which she received in 1965. She went on to teach boundary layer mete- 
orology and cloud physics at Texas A&M University. She then joined the staff of 
Argonne National Laboratory, where she stayed two years before moving to the 
Illinois State Water Survey. 

Ackerman was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science and a fellow of the American Meteorological Society. She was also a 
member of the American Geophysical Union. 



Adams, (Amy) Elizabeth 

1892 1962 
Zoologist 

Education: A.B., zoology, Mount Holyoke College, 1914; University of Chicago, 
1916; A.M., Columbia University, 1919; Ph.D., zoology, Yale University, 1926; 
University of Edinburgh, 1930-1931 

Professional Experience: laboratory assistant, zoology, Mount Holyoke College, 
1914-1915, instructor to associate professor, 1915-1928, professor, 1928-1957 

Concurrent Positions: honorary fellow, Yale University, 1922-1923 

Elizabeth Adams was a zoologist who spent her entire career at Mount Holyoke 
College, where many female zoologists of the early twentieth century received their 
degrees. Her areas of research were experimental embryology and endocrinology, 
and she taught some of the first courses in heredity and in human embryology at 
Mount Holyoke as well as some of the first studies of the reproductive system. Her 
brother-in-law was a physician in Pennsylvania who helped collect fetal specimens 
for the college laboratories, including those used in Adams's courses. She was one 
of the most renowned women zoologists of her generation and obtained grants, even 
during the Depression Era of the 1930s, from sources such as the Bache Fund of the 
National Academy of Sciences, Sigma Xi, the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, several committees of the National Research Council, 
and the Rockefeller Foundation. Particularly in women's colleges at that time, 
research funds, facilities, and faculty leave time were scarce or nonexistent. 



184 | Adelman, Irma Glicman 

Adams and her sister, Katherine Mary, both attended Mount Holyoke College as 
undergraduates. She went on to earn a master's degree from Columbia University 
and a doctorate in zoology from Yale University. She also took courses at the Uni- 
versity of Chicago and University of Edinburg, but spent her entire teaching career 
at Mount Holyoke College. On several occasions, she served as acting head of the 
zoology department, and in 1926 served one semester as acting dean of the college. 
She retired in 1957. Adams was a member of several scientific societies, including 
the Endocrine Society and the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. She 
was also an elected fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences. 

Further Resources 

Levin, Miriam R. 2005. Defining Women's Scientific Enterprise: Mount Holyoke Faculty 
and the Rise of American Science. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England. 

Morgan, Lynn Marie. 2006. "The Rise and the Demise of a Collection of Human Fetuses 
at Mount Holyoke College." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. 49(3): 435 451. 
(Summer 2006). 



Adelman, Irma Glicman 

b. 1930 
Economist 

Education: B.S., University of California, Berkeley, 1950, M.A., 1951, Ph.D., 
economics, 1955 

Professional Experience: instructor, University of California, Berkeley, 1956— 
1957, assistant professor, 1957-1958; visiting assistant professor, Mills College, 
1958-1959; assistant professor, Stanford University, 1959-1962; associate profes- 
sor, Johns Hopkins University, 1962-1965; professor, economics, Northwestern 
University, 1966-1972; professor, economics, University of Maryland, 1972- 
1978; professor, economics and agricultural economics, University of California, 
Berkeley, 1979-1994, emeritus 

Concurrent Positions: consultant, Division of Industrial Development, United 
Nations, 1962-1963; consultant, Agency for International Development, U.S. 
Department of Agriculture, 1963-1972; consultant, World Bank, 1968— 

Irma Adelman is an internationally renowned economist whose research focuses on 
how the economic growth of nations is affected by and, in turn, affects economics 
and political institutions; how institutions and economic structure and choices affect 
the diffusion of benefits from economic and institutional change; and examining 



Agogino, Alice M. | 185 

income distribution and poverty, both descriptively and from a policy viewpoint. 
Adelman was born in Romania and emigrated to the United States with her family 
in 1949, her family escaping the fate of many Jews during that period. She attended 
Berkeley and, after completing her graduate work, was unable to find a permanent 
position. She held a series of short appointments at several schools, and when her 
physicist husband, Frank Adelman, accepted an appointment in the Washington, 
D.C., area, she obtained a position at Johns Hopkins University and began working 
on summer research projects at the Brookings Institution. She was invited to join the 
faculty at Northwestern University in 1966, and her husband followed her to the 
Chicago area. She went on to teach at the University of Maryland before returning 
to Berkeley as a professor. She has also served as a consultant to the United Nations 
Division of Industrial Development and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Adelman has received numerous appointments and awards for her work interna- 
tionally, including awards in Korea and Vietnam. In 1977, she was invited to hold 
the Cleringa Chair at Leiden University in The Netherlands, a one-year appoint- 
ment that rotates between a Dutch professor and a foreign professor. She was the 
fourth holder of the chair and the second economist. She has published more than 
130 papers and books, was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and 
Sciences, and is a member of the Econometric Society and the American Eco- 
nomic Association. 



Agogino, Alice M. 

b. 1952 

Mechanical Engineer 

Education B.S., mechanical engineering, University of New Mexico, 1975; M.S., 
mechanical engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1978; Ph.D., 
engineering-economic systems, Stanford University, 1984 

Professional Experience: project engineer, Dow Chemical, Texas, 1972-1973; 
mechanical engineer, General Electric, 1975-1978, commercial specialist, 1978- 
1979; systems analyst, SRI, 1980; director, Women-in-Engineering Program, 
University of Santa Clara, California, 1980-1981; principal, Agogino Engineering, 
1979-; assistant professor to professor, mechanical engineering, University of 
California, Berkeley, 1984- 

Concurrent Positions: associate dean, College of Engineering, University of 
California, Berkeley, 1995-1999; director, Instructional Technology Program, 
University of California, Berkeley, 1999-2001 



186 | Agogino, Alice M. 

Alice Agogino is a mechanical engineer whose research interests include intel- 
ligent learning systems, wireless sensor networks, design theory and methods, 
multimedia and computer-aided design (CAD), artificial intelligence, and gender 
equity. She has strong ties in both academia and industry and has played a 
prominent role in developing and reforming technology education, including 
bringing more women and minorities into science and engineering careers. She 
is director of the Berkeley Expert Systems Technology (BEST) Laboratory and 
the Berkeley Instructional Technology Studio (BITS), and director of Synthesis, 
a National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored project committed to under- 
graduate engineering education. 

Dr. Agogino has authored numerous articles and publications and received 
prizes for best papers at engineering conferences. She has served on the edito- 
rial board of professional journals. Beyond her role in the university, she has 
been involved in collaborative projects with industry and has been a member 
or advisor for governmental and industry organizations and committees such 
as the National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for Engineering 
(1991-96, chair 1996-97), the National Research Council (NRC) Government- 
University-Industry Roundtable (1997-98), the NRC Committee on "Standards 
for Technology Education" (1997-98), the National Academy of Engineering 
(NAE) Academic Advisory Board (1998-2002), and the National Academies 
Board on Science Education (2005-2007), and is co-chair of the NAE Mechanical 
Engineering Nominating Committee (2007-2010). She also served on the 
National Academies Women in Academic Science Engineering Committee 
(2005-2006), the goal of which was to "report on maximizing the potential of 
women in academic science and engineering, including findings and recommen- 
dations for recruiting, hiring, promoting, and retaining women scientists and 
engineers." 

Agogino was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 1997, 
and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 
(engineering chair, 2001-2002), the European Academy of Science, the Associ- 
ation of Women in Science, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 
She is also a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and 
the Society of Women Engineers. Some of her earliest awards and honors 
include a NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award (1985) and the Young 
Manufacturing Engineer of the Year Award of the Society of Manufacturing 
Engineers (1987). 

Further Resources 

University of California. Faculty website, http://www.me.berkeley.edu/faculty/ 
aagogino.html. 



Ajzenberg-Selove, Fay | 187 

Ajzenberg-Selove, Fay 

b. 1926 
Nuclear Physicist 

Education: B.S.E., University of Michigan, 1946; M.S., University ofWisconsin, 
1949, Ph.D., physics, 1952 

Professional Experience: assistant to associate professor, physics, Boston 
University, 1952-1957; associate professor to professor, Haverford College, 
1957-1970; professor, physics, University of Pennsylvania, 1970- 

Concurrent Positions: Smith-Mundt Fellow, U.S. State Department, 1955; visiting 
assistant professor, Columbia University, 1955; visiting professor, National Univer- 
sity of Mexico, 1955; visiting associate physicist, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 
1956; lecturer, University of Pennsylvania, 1957; Guggenheim Fellow, Lawrence 
Radiation Laboratory, 1965-1966; consultant, California Institute of Technology, 
1970-1972 

Fay Ajzenberg-Selove is an internationally recognized authority on nuclear structure. 
She was born in Berlin of Russian parents, but because of financial problems the 
family moved to Paris in 1930. The family was forced to flee that city in 1940 
because some family members were Russian Jews who had supported the Commu- 
nist Party. Fortunately, her family believed in education for women, and they allowed 
her to study any subjects she chose. She completed her high school education after 
arriving in the United States in 1941 and enrolled in the Engineering School at the 
University of Michigan, the only woman in a class of 100. After spending a year in 
the graduate school at Columbia University, she taught college-level mathematics 
at the University of Illinois, Chicago. She then entered the graduate school at the 
University ofWisconsin and received her degree in physics in 1952. 

She was a joint editor of Energy Levels of Light Nuclei for the fourth edition 
(1952) and the fifth edition (1955); she has been solely responsible for the sixth 
edition (1973) and all subsequent editions. In addition to numerous other scientific 
publications, she has been active in encouraging women to pursue careers in phys- 
ics. Her autobiography, A Matter of Choices: Memoirs of a Female Physicist 
(1994), describes many of the professional problems she faced, problems that still, 
unfortunately, plague women scientists today. 

Ajzenberg-Selove is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science and of the American Physical Society, serving as chair of the Division 
of Nuclear Physics (1973-74). She was also a member of the Nuclear Science Advi- 
sory Committee of the Department of Energy (1977-80). Her numerous awards 
include the Christian and Mary Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished 



188 | Altmann, Jeanne 

Teaching (1991), the Nicholson Medal for Humanitarian Service, American Physical 
Society (1999), the Distinguished Alumni Fellow Award, Department of Physics, 
University of Wisconsin (2001), and several honorary doctorates. In March 2006, 
the University of Pennsylvania held a special symposium in honor of the work of 
Fay Ajzenberg-Selove and her husband, Walter Selove, also a physicist. 

Further Resources 

University of Pennsylvania. Faculty website, http://www.physics.upenn.edu/people/ 
f.ajzenberg.html. 

Ajzenberg-Selove, Fay. 1994. A Matter of Choices: Memoirs of a Female Physicist. New 
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 



Altmann, Jeanne 

Primatologist, Anthropologist 

Education: B.A., mathematics, University of Alberta, 1962; M.A.T., mathematics 
and teaching, Emory University, 1970; Ph.D., behavioral sciences/human develop- 
ment, University of Chicago, 1979 

Professional Experience: statistical clerk, Laboratory of Human Development, Har- 
vard University and Office of Mathematical Research, National Institutes of Health, 
1959-1960; research associate and co-investigator in primate field studies, zoology, 
University of Alberta, 1963-1965; research associate and co-investigator, Yerkes 
National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, 1965-1967 
and 1969-1970; research associate, biology, University of Chicago, 1970-1985, 
associate professor, ecology and evolution, 1985-1989, professor, 1989-1998; 
professor, ecology and evolutionary biology, Princeton University, 1998, faculty 
associate, Office of Population Research, 1999-, faculty associate, Princeton Envi- 
ronmental Institute, 2005-, Eugene Higgins Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary 
Biology, 2007- 

Concurrent Positions: research curator and associate curator of primates, 
Chicago Zoological Society, 1985-; honorary lecturer, zoology, University of 
Nairobi, 1989-, visiting professor, animal physiology, 2003-2008 

Jeanne Altmann is a primatologist and anthropologist who studies the demography, 
genetics, behavior, and life histories of wild primates. She has been involved in 
long-term full-time studies of baboon family units since founding the Amboseli 
Baboon Research Project in Kenya, Africa, in 1963 with her husband, primatologist 
Stuart Altmann. The Altmanns have organized the work of dozens of scientists and 



Altmann, Margaret | 189 



researchers at Amboseli while serving 
as professors of primatology and evo- 
lutionary biology at the University of 
Chicago and, since 1998, at Princeton 
University. Jeanne Altmann became 
the primary director of the project; her 
work focuses on group social behavior 
and on the effects of genetics and envi- 
ronment on individual behavior, such 
as mate choice and parental care. Her 
1980 book, Baboon Mothers and 
Infants, was one of the first studies of 
primate maternal roles and changed 
the course of primate research; a new 
edition was published in 2001. 

Altmann was elected to the National 
Academy of Sciences in 2003. She is 
the recipient of an Animal Behavior 
Society Exemplar Award (1996), and a 
fellow of the American Association of 
Zoological Parks and Aquariums, Ani- 
mal Behavior Society, and American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences. 




Primatologist and anthropologist Jeanne 
Altmann. (Princeton University, Office of 
Communications, Brian Wilson) 



Further Resources 

Princeton University. "Altmann Laboratory." http://www.princeton.edu/~altlab/. 
"Amboseli Baboon Research Project." http://www.princeton.edu/~baboon/people.html. 



Altmann, Margaret 



1900 1984 

Animal Science, Biologist 

Education: Ph.D., rural economics, University of Bonn, 1928; Ph.D., animal 
breeding, Cornell University, 1938 

Professional Experience: farm manager, Germany, 1921-1930; dairy researcher, 
German government, 1928-1929; lecturer, German Agriculture Ministry, 1929- 
1931; Agricultural Council specialist, 1932-1933; assistant in animal breeding, 



190 | Ancker-Johnson, Betsy 

Cornell University, 1933-1938, research associate, psychobiology, 1938-1941; 
associate professor, biology and animal husbandry and department chair, Hampton 
Institute, 1941, professor, animal husbandry and genetics, 1941-1956; visiting 
lecturer, psychology, University of Colorado, 1958; visiting professor, psychology 
and biology, Kenyon College, 1959; professor, psychology, University of Colorado, 
1959-1969; emerita, 1969-1984 

Concurrent Positions: big game researcher, Biology Research Station, 1948-1956 

Margaret Altmann was a researcher in psychobiology and animal husbandry and 
one of the first women who worked in the area of agricultural animal sciences, a field 
nearly the exclusive domain of male scientists at the time she was employed. Born 
in Berlin, she worked for several German government agricultural agencies and 
received a doctorate in rural economics from the University of Bonn in 1928. She 
then moved to the United States, where she earned a second doctorate in animal 
breeding from Cornell University in New York. She worked at Cornell as a psychobi- 
ologist before moving to the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Virginia 
as professor of animal husbandry and genetics. She spent another 10 years as a pro- 
fessor of psychology, combining her interests in biology and psychology, at the Uni- 
versity of Colorado, retiring in 1 969 . Earlier she was also a big game researcher at the 
Biology Research Station, where she studied and eventually published several papers 
on the maternal behavior of large mammals, such as moose and elk. Even today, this 
typically is considered a male profession, and it is a credit to Altmann's expertise and 
persistence that she succeeded in two male-dominated areas of research. 

Altmann was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, Genetics Society of America, and American Society of Mammalogists. 

Further Resources 

Chiszar, David and Michael Wertheimer. 2006. "Margaret Altmann: A Rugged Pioneer in 
Rugged Fields." Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences. 24(1): 102 106. 



Ancker-Johnson, Betsy 

b. 1929 
Solid-state Physicist 

Education: B.A., Wellesley College, 1949; Ph.D., physics, Tubingen University, 
1953 

Professional Experience: junior research physicist and lecturer in physics, Univer- 
sity of California, Berkeley, 1953-1954; staff member, Inter- Varsity Christian 



Ancker-Johnson, Betsy | 191 

Fellowship, Chicago, 1954-1956; senior research physicist, Microwave Physics 
Laboratory, Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., 1956-1958; member of technical 
staff, David Sarnoff Research Center, Radio Corporation of America (RCA), 
1958-1961; research specialist, Plasma Physics Laboratory, Boeing Scientific 
Research Laboratories, 1961-1970; supervisor, solid-state and plasma electronics, 
Boeing Aerospace Company, 1970-1971, manager, advanced energy systems, 
1971-1973; assistant secretary for science and technology, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 1973-1977; associate laboratory director, physics research, Argonne 
National Laboratory, 1977-1979; vice president, Environmental Activity Staff, 
GM Technical Center, General Motors Corporation, 1979-1992 

Concurrent Positions: affiliate professor, electrical engineering, University of 
Washington, 1961-1973; visiting scientist, Bell Laboratories, 1967-1968; Regents 
Lecturer, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University 
of California, Berkeley, 1988-1989 

Betsy Ancker-Johnson is an internationally known solid-state physicist who had a 
distinguished career working for several corporations, reaching the level of a vice 
president at General Motors Corporation. In 1973, she was the first woman scien- 
tist to be appointed assistant secretary for science and technology at the U.S. 
Department of Commerce. She began her career as a lecturer at the University of 
California, Berkeley, where she met her future husband, Harold Johnson, a math- 
ematics professor. When her husband accepted a position at Princeton University, 
she found a job at Boeing Corporation. After working several years in research, 
she requested that she be transferred to a management position. 

While employed at Boeing, Ancker-Johnson received at least four electrical or 
related patents, of which she was the sole inventor of three. Other patents were for a 
solid density probe, a solid signal generator, and a solid-state amplifier and phase 
detector. She then spent four years at the Department of Commerce and, after leaving 
her position there, worked as associate laboratory director for physics research at 
Argonne National Laboratory. She then moved to General Motors as vice president 
in charge of environmental policy, the first woman vice president in the auto industry. 
In this capacity, she headed a staff of over 200 and was responsible for automobile 
safety, fuel economy, and noise and auto emissions, as well as for all waste from 
GM plants worldwide. In the 1980s, she became concerned about the automotive 
industry's role in global climate change, but the GM leadership did not yet heed her 
warnings. She retired from GM in 1992, but she went on to serve on the National 
Research Council to address the issue of global warming. 

Ancker-Johnson was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engi- 
neering in 1975. She has been very active in promoting the role of women scientists, 
especially through her memberships in professional organizations. She served as 



192 | Anderson, Gloria (Long) 

chair of the Energy Policy Committee (1981-84) and later Director of the Motor 
Vehicle Manufacturers Association (1982-92). Her concern about the environment 
led to her position as chair (1988-94) and later Director of the World Environment 
Center (1988-1994). She was also a councilor for the National Academy of Engi- 
neering beginning in 1995. She wrote the book Nobel Prize Women in Science: 
Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries (1993). She received honorary 
doctorates from New York Polytechnic Institute (1979), Bates College (1980), and 
the University of Southern California (1984), and is a fellow of the American 
Physical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and 
a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. In some sources, her name is 
spelled as "Anker." 



Anderson, Gloria (Long) 

b. 1938 
Chemist 

Education: B.S., Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College (now 
the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff), 1958; M.S., Atlanta University, 1961; 
Ph.D., organic chemistry, University of Chicago, 1968 

Professional Experience: instructor, chemistry, South Carolina State College, 
1961-1962; instructor, chemistry, Morehouse College, 1962-1964; summer 
school professor, South Carolina State College, 1967; Calloway Associate Profes- 
sor and chair, chemistry, Morris Brown College, 1968-1973, professor and chair, 
chemistry, 1973-1984, acting Vice President of Academic Affairs, 1984-1985, 
Dean of Academic Affairs, 1985-1989; Distinguished Scholar, United Negro 
College Fund UNCF, 1989-1990; professor, chemistry, Morris Brown College, 
1990-, Interim President, 1992-1993, Dean of Science and Technology, 1996- 

Concurrent Positions: vice chair, Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), 
1977-1979; research consultant, BioSPECS, Hague, Netherlands, 1990-; Certified 
Professional Chemist, American Institute of Chemists, 1992- 

Gloria Anderson is an authority on the industrial, medical, and military applica- 
tions of fluorine- 19 chemistry. Fluorine- 19 chemistry began to be an important field 
of research prior to World War II, when many commercial applications were dis- 
covered. Anderson chose fluorine- 19 as her thesis topic and has retained it as her 
major interest in research. Her research has involved the use of nuclear magnetic 
resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a procedure that enables an extremely sophisti- 
cated analysis of the molecular structures and interactions of various materials. 



Anderson, Mary P. | 193 

Anderson has conducted research in a variety of fields, and starting in 1971, the 
National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of 
Naval Research have funded her investigation of fluorine- 19. She conducted 
research on amantadines, a drug used to prevent viral infection, under the sponsor- 
ship of the National Institutes of Health, and she held a faculty industrial research 
fellowship with the National Science Foundation in 1981 and with the Air Force 
Office of Scientific Research in 1984. In 1985, she conducted research on the 
synthesis of solid rocket propellants under the auspices of the Air Force Office of 
Scientific Research. She has been a research consultant for BioSPECS of the Hague, 
Netherlands, since 1990. 

Anderson has been very much involved in education on the national level. She 
was appointed to the board for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1972 
for a six-year term, and while there, she chaired committees on minority training, 
minorities and women, and human resources development, and served as vice chair 
of the board from 1977 to 1979. She has also served on the review panel for the 
National Science Foundation's Women in Science Program. She is a member of 
the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical 
Society, the National Institute of Science, the National Science Teachers Associa- 
tion, and the Georgia Academy of Science. In addition to teaching, she has held 
numerous academic and administrative positions, including department chair, dean, 
and interim president, at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia. 



Anderson, Mary P. 

b. 1948 

Geologist, Hydrologist 

Education: B.A., geology, State University of New York, Buffalo, 1970; M.S., 
geology, Stanford University, 1971; Ph.D., hydrology, Stanford University, 1973 

Professional Experience: adjunct assistant professor, geology, Southampton 
College of Long Island University, 1973-1975; assistant to associate professor, 
geology and geophysics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1975-1985, professor, 
1985- 

Concurrent Positions: visiting lecturer, geology, State University of New York, 
Stony Brook, 1974 

Mary P. Anderson is a professor of hydrogeology, which is the study of the Earth's 
groundwater and lake systems. Her research is focused in Wisconsin, where she is 
professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She 



194 | Angier, Natalie 

has been involved in ongoing studies of how global climate change impacts 
groundwater and lake water levels as part of the National Science Foundation's 
Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project in northern Wisconsin. This 
research also contributes to questions of environmental and ecological importance, 
such as restoration of wetlands and detection of groundwater contamination. She 
has published numerous articles and book chapters, and her books have been 
through multiple editions, including the textbooks Introduction to Groundwater 
Modeling (originally published 1982; co-authored with H. F. Wang) and Applied 
Groundwater Modeling (originally published 1992; co-authored with W. W. 
Woessner), which has been printed in Japanese and Chinese editions as well. 

Anderson was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006. She is a 
fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America, 
which awarded her the O. E. Meinzer Award (1998) for her work in hydrogeology. 
She also received the Hubbert Award of the Association of Ground Water Scientists 
and Engineers and the National Ground Water Association (1992). She has been 
editor or editorial board member for numerous professional journals, most recently 
as editor-in-chief of Ground Water (2002-2007), the journal of the National Ground 
Water Association. Anderson has been sought out as a member of professional, 
regulatory, and government research committees such as the National Research 
Council Committee on Ground- Water in Relation to Coal Mining (1978-80), the 
Panel on Groundwater Contamination of the Geophysics Study Committee 
(1981-83), the Water Science and Technology Board (1984-87), an ad hoc 
Committee to advise the U.S. Army on groundwater modeling needs (1992), and 
the Committee on Hydrologic Science (1999-2003). She has been especially 
active with the American Geophysical Union, serving on its award selection and 
executive committees and as President of the Hydrology Section (1996-1998). 

Further Resources 

University of Wisconsin. Faculty website, http://www.geology.wisc.edu/~andy/ 
HOMEPAGE.htm. 



Angier, Natalie 

b. 1958 
Science Writer 

Education: student, University of Michigan, 1974-1976; B.A., Barnard College, 1978 

Professional Experience: technical writer, Texas Instruments, 1979; researcher to 
staff writer, Discover magazine, 1980-1983; editor, Savvy magazine, 1983-1984; 



Angier, Natalie | 195 

staff writer, Time magazine, 1984-1986; instructor, journalism, New York University, 
1987-1989; reporter to science correspondent, New York Times, Washington, D.C., 
bureau, 1990- 

Concurrent Positions: Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large, Cornell University, 
2007-2012 

Natalie Angier is a journalist who writes on scientific topics and has been 
acknowledged and praised for making the latest scientific research accessible to 
a wider audience. She has been a longtime science correspondent for the New York 
Times and a prolific contributor to essay anthologies, popular newspapers, and 
magazines. Her books include Natural Obsessions: The Search for the Oncogene 
(1988; reissued 1999), The Beauty of the Beastly: New Views on the Nature of Life 
(1995), Woman: An Intimate Geography (1999), and The Canon: A Whirligig Tour 
of the Beautiful Basics of Science (2007). She also co-edited the 2002 edition of 
The Best American Science and Nature Writing. In 1991, she received the presti- 
gious Pulitzer Prize for reporting. 

Angier's first book, Natural Obsessions, was based on time spent in a cancer 
research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The book 
provided what one reviewer described as an important look at "the brutal intellectual 
Darwinism that dominates the high-stakes world of molecular genetics research." For 
the essay collection The Beauty of the Beastly, she examined various life forms in her 
characteristically technical but amusing writing style. Her book Woman: An Intimate 
Geography was a sweeping overview of scientific research on the female body, from 
the cellular to the anatomical and psychological. In The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of 
the Beautiful Basics of Science, Angier took an even wider view in an effort to get 
at the big issues in various scientific disciplines. She read the research and talked to 
active scientists from a variety of disciplines — biology, chemistry, physics, 
astronomy, evolutionary biology, environmental sciences, and others — bringing 
together the latest findings and presenting complex ideas to the lay reader. Angier 
has been praised in all of these works for advocating scientific literacy among the gen- 
eral public and for helping readers understand how science works in our daily lives. 

Angier is a member of the National Association of Science Writers and, in addi- 
tion to the Pulitzer Prize, she has been awarded the Lewis Thomas Prize from 
Rockefeller University (1990), an excellence in journalism award from the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science (1992), a Distinguished Alumnae 
Award from Barnard College (1993), and the Maggie Award of Planned Parenthood 
Federation (1999). 

Further Resources 

"Natalie Angier." http://www.natalieangier.com. 



196 | Anslow, Gladys Amelia 
Anslow, Gladys Amelia 



1892 1969 
Physicist 

Education: A.B., Smith College, 1914, A.M., 1917; Ph.D., physics, Yale University, 
1924 

Professional Experience: demonstrator, physics department, Smith College, 
1914-1915, assistant, 1915-1917, instructor, 1917-1924, assistant professor to 
professor, 1924-1958 

Concurrent Positions: chair, graduate school, Smith College, 1941-1958; chief, 
communications and information, Office of Scientific Research and Development 
(OSRD), 1944-1945 

Gladys Anslow was physicist who studied spectroscopy of biological materials, 
ultraviolet vacuum spectroscopy, and nuclear structure problems. She was an 
outstanding teacher and researcher in the early twentieth century, when many 
women's colleges did not have adequate facilities for research in physics. At Smith 
College, Anslow took a course in spectroscopy with Janet T. Howell, with whom 
she researched the emission spectra of radium. After receiving her master's degree, 
Anslow completed some graduate coursework at the University of Chicago before 
entering the doctoral program at Yale. While working toward her Ph.D. in high- 
energy physics, she also taught courses at Smith and collaborated on research proj- 
ects and joint publications in physics journals. After receiving her doctorate from 
Yale, Anslow spent her entire academic career at Smith College. She was invited 
to Berkeley in the summer of 1939 to work in the laboratory of E. O. Lawrence, 
who won the Nobel Prize in Physics that year. She returned to Smith to implement 
some of the methods she learned at Berkeley, but her projects were interrupted by 
the onset of World War II. Anslow was recruited by one of her Yale professors as 
a special assistant for the OSRD during the war. The OSRD was created to support 
research on wartime applications for scientific research, including radar, explo- 
sives, drug research, and the atomic bomb. Although many male scientists found 
employment with the OSRD during the war, Anslow was one of the few, and 
appears to have been one of the highest-ranking, women working in the organiza- 
tion. She became chief of communications, in liaison with civilian scientists work- 
ing on military projects, and also retained her position at Smith throughout the war. 
She received a Presidential Certificate of Merit in 1948 from Harry Truman. 

The postwar United States maintained a new level of commitment to and sup- 
port for scientific research, and in the 1950s, Anslow was able to fund her work 
with government grants. While unable to secure enough funding for a new science 



Apgar, Virginia | 197 

building at Smith as originally hoped, Anslow and her colleagues were able to 
upgrade facilities and buy new equipment, such as spectrophotometers, to support 
"physical and chemical studies of biologically important molecules" for medical 
applications. The women at Smith struggled with additional funding, however, 
when their findings did not corroborate those of leading male scientists, such as 
Linus Pauling. In the 1960s, however, their work was supported by the National 
Science Foundation, and Anslow was awarded an emeritus Sophia Smith Fellow- 
ship in 1966 to continue her research even after retirement. 

Anslow was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, and she was a fellow of 
the American Physical Society and a member of the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences, the American Association of Physics Teachers, the Optical Society 
of America, and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. 



Apgar, Virginia 

1909 1974 
Pediatrician 

Education: B.S., zoology, Mount Holyoke, 1929; M.D., Columbia University, 1933; 
M.S., public health, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, 1959 

Professional Experience: resident and intern, surgery, Columbia Presbyterian 
Hospital, 1933-1937, director, anesthesia division, 1938-1959, professor, anesthe- 
siology, 1949-1959; director, division of congenital malformations, National Foun- 
dation for Infantile Paralysis, 1959-1967, director, basic research, 1967-1968, vice 
president, medical affairs, 1971-1974 

Concurrent Positions: honorary lecturer, medicine, Johns Hopkins School of 
Public Health, 1959, lecturer, genetics, 1973; lecturer, pediatrics, Cornell Univer- 
sity, 1965-1971, clinical professor, pediatrics, 1971-1974 

Virginia Apgar was a pioneer anesthesiologist, neonatologist, and pediatrician best 
known for developing the "Apgar score," a scale for assessing the physical and men- 
tal health of newborn babies immediately after birth. Apgar had an early interest in 
science and medicine and graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1929 with a 
major in zoology. She went on to receive her medical training from the Columbia 
University College of Physicians and Surgeons, receiving the M.D. in 1933. She 
completed a surgical residency at Columbia, but was discouraged from becoming a 
surgeon and sought training instead in the relatively new field of anesthesiology at 
both the University of Wisconsin, Madison and New York's Bellevue Hospital in 
New York. She was only the second woman to be board-certified in anesthesiology 



198 | Apgar, Virginia 

and returned to Columbia as director of the new anesthesia department in 1938. 
In 1949, she became the first female full professor at the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons. Apgar was interested in the effects on the baby of labor and delivery, 
including the effects of any anesthesia given to laboring women. She developed the 
"Apgar score," assigning a 0- to 2-point rating to five measurements of newborn 
health assessed at 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth: heart rate, respiratory effort, 
muscle tone, reflex response, and color. The letters of her last name were later 
used to create an acronym for the five measurements: Appearance, Pulse, Grimace 
(reaction and irritability), Activity, and Respiration. 

Apgar first published her method in 1953, and the score was accepted as a 
worldwide obstetrical standard for assessing newborn neurological health and sur- 
vival rates. The test has been used by neonatologists for more than 50 years now 
and has been credited with contributing to a decline in infant mortality worldwide 
by changing birthing practices and alerting physicians to potential problems, 
allowing for early interventions. Apgar authored dozens of scientific papers and 
articles for magazines and newspapers, as well as co-authored the book Is My 
Baby All Right? (1972). She went on to earn a master's degree in public health 
from Johns Hopkins University in 1959 and, after that time, left teaching to focus 
on public education and research funding, including an affiliation with the 
National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now the March of Dimes) as director 
of the division on birth defects and vice president of medical affairs. 

Apgar was a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American 
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and a member of the American Society 
of Anesthesiologists (treasurer, 1941-1945). She received honorary doctorates 
from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania (1964), from her alma mater, 
Mount Holyoke College (1965), and from the New Jersey College of Medicine 
and Dentistry (1967). Her other awards and honors include a Distinguished 
Service Award from the American Society of Anesthesiologists (1961), Elizabeth 
Blackwell Award of the American Women's Medical Association (1966), Alumni 
Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement from Columbia University College of 
Physicians and Surgeons (1973), and the Ralph M. Waters Award of the American 
Society of Anesthesiologists (1973). In 1973, she was also named Woman of the 
Year in Science by the Ladies' Home Journal, and she has been honored post- 
humously with a U.S. postage stamp (1994) and with induction into the National 
Women's Hall of Fame (1995). The American Academy of Pediatrics named its 
Virginia Apgar Award in Perinatal Pediatrics in her honor. 

Further Resources 

March of Dimes. "Virginia Apgar: Her Score Was a Win for Babies." (28 May 2009). 
http://www.marchofdimes.com/789 5973 1 .asp. 



Archambault, JoAllyn I 199 



Archambault, JoAllyn 



b. 1942 

Anthropologist, Museum Program Director 

Education: B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1970, M.A., 1974, Ph.D., 
anthropology, 1984 

Professional Experience: lecturer, Native American studies, University of 
California, Berkeley, 1976-1979; chair, Ethnic Studies Department, California 
College of Arts and Crafts, 1979-1980; part-time research associate, Center for 
the Study of Race, Crime and Social Policy, Cornell University, 1980-1982; assis- 
tant professor, anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1983-1986; 
director, American Indian Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smith- 
sonian Institution, 1986- 

JoAllyn Archambault is a prominent anthropologist and director of the American 
Indian program at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. She was born 
into a mixed-blood Standing Rock 
Dakota, Creek, Irish, and French 
family in Claremore, Oklahoma. Her 
responsibilities at the museum consist 
of preserving and promoting Native 
American art, culture, and political 
anthropology. She functions as an 
ethnic liaison, supervises Native 
American fellowship interns, and 
manages a $110,000 annual program 
budget. She was responsible for the 
redesign of the North American 
Indian Ethnology Halls for the 
"Changing Culture in a Changing 
World" exhibit. She has curated and 
implemented four major exhibits: 
"Plains Indian Arts: Change and Con- 
tinuity" (1987), "100 Years of Plains 
Indian Painting" (1989), "Indian Bas- 
ketry and Their Makers" (1990), and 
"Seminole!" (1990). She contributed 
to the Los Angeles Southwest Muse- 
um's quincentennial exhibit "Grand- 
father, Hear Our Voices" in 1992. 




Anthropologist JoAllyn Archambault, director 
of the American Indian program at the 
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. 
(Peter Turnley/Corbis) 



200 | Attneave, Carolyn (Lewis) 

Her research for her doctorate centered on the Gallup ceremonial, an annual 
tourist event held in Gallup, New Mexico, to display Native American arts of that 
region. Originally, the ceremonial was sponsored by white people as a business 
venture, but by the 1980s, the Native Americans had established their own dealer 
contacts. Since that time, her interests have included research in several urban 
and reservation communities, including reservation land use, health evaluation, 
expressive art, material culture, contemporary native culture, and the sun dance 
ceremony of eight different Plains groups. She has provided a great deal of assis- 
tance with respect to conservation, architecture, public programming, and research 
projects to tribes and to Native American-controlled museums, archives, and other 
types of cultural projects. She has lectured at several colleges both before and after 
joining the Smithsonian. 

One of the controversies in Native American anthropology involves the number 
of skeletal remains that are housed in museums and laboratories across the United 
States. The problem continues to escalate because federal regulations require an 
anthropological analysis of any potentially historical material that is discovered. 
Although many people agree that the Native American skeletal remains should 
be returned to the tribes, it is often difficult to establish which tribe is involved 
or whether an established tribe still exists. Archambault has served on the 
Commission on Native American Reburial of the American Anthropological 
Association as well as on the University of California Joint Academic-Senate- 
Administration Committee on Human Skeletal Remains. She is a member of 
the American Ethnological Society as well as of several similar associations. Her 
work can be found in the permanent collections of several museums that specialize 
in Native American art. She published An Annotated Bibliography of Sources on 
Plains Indian Art (ca. 1995). 



Attneave, Carolyn (Lewis) 

1920 1992 
Psychologist 

Education: A.A., Yuba College, 1939; B.A., Chico State College (now California 
State University, Chico), 1940; M.A., Stanford University, 1947, Ph.D., psychology, 
1952 

Professional Experience: elementary school teacher, 1940-1942; director of 
student personnel, Texas Woman's University, 1956-1957; assistant professor, 
psychology and human development, Texas Technological College (now Texas 



Attneave, Carolyn (Lewis) | 201 

Tech University), 1957-1961; coordinator, Oklahoma State Department of Health, 
1962-1969; senior psychologist, Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic, 1969-1971; 
assistant professor, clinical psychology, Tufts University School of Medicine, 
1971; coordinator of public service careers programs, Massachusetts Department 
of Mental Health, 1971-1972; supervisor of family therapy, Boston University, 
1972-1975; research associate and lecturer, Harvard University School of Public 
Health, 1973-1975; professor, psychology and adjunct professor, behavioral sci- 
ences, University of Washington, Seattle, 1975-1987, director of American Indian 
studies, 1975-1977 

Concurrent Positions: consulting psychologist and family therapist, private prac- 
tice; U.S. Coast Guard Women's Auxiliary (SPARS), 1942-1946 

Carolyn Attneave was the founder of network therapy and probably the best- 
known Native American psychologist. She was internationally renowned for her 
expertise in cross-cultural topics in counseling and psychotherapy and for 
her pioneering work to extend family therapy to include the social network of 
the client. Her book Family Networks: Retribalization and Healing (1973) is con- 
sidered the most comprehensive and significant presentation of social 
network therapy for families. Instead of merely assisting the client and family to 
solve an immediate problem, the therapist convenes a group as large as 40 people 
who are related to the identified client by blood, friendship, need, or physical 
proximity. The members of this large, diverse group bring their strengths to help 
the client cope with the problem and to prepare the client to handle the next crisis 
of living. 

After receiving her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1952, 
Attneave completed postdoctoral studies at the University of Chicago and the 
University of Oklahoma Medical School. Attneave's theory of network therapy 
developed out of her work as an elementary school teacher working with troubled 
children within the larger context of family and community. However, her own 
experiences as a child visiting her grandparents during the summer on the Dela- 
ware Indian tribal lands in Oklahoma impressed on her the need to retain contact 
with her Indian heritage. Her mother was descended from the Delaware Indian 
tribes but had grown up with little knowledge of the customs and traditions of 
the community. While working for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, 
Attneave was able to develop the idea further. There, she collaborated with physi- 
cians, civic organizations, tribal and federal agencies, tribal leaders, and medicine 
men in providing mental-health services to the seven Native American tribes in 
the region. 

Attneave became a founding member of the Boston Indian Council, one of the 
largest Native American centers in the country, and she started a newsletter, 



202 | Austin, Pauline Morrow 

Network of Indian Psychologists, to exchange information about services available 
to the American Indian community. The subscribers to the newsletter eventually 
evolved into a formal organization, the Society of Indian Psychologists. In 1981, 
she directed a project sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health to com- 
pile a computerized bibliography of American Indian mental-health research. The 
bibliography is housed at the National Center for American Indian and Alaska 
Native Mental Health Research at the University of Colorado, Denver. 



Austin, Pauline Morrow 

b. 1916 
Meteorologist 

Education: B.A., Wilson College, 1938; M.A., Smith College, 1939; Ph.D., physics, 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1942 

Professional Experience: computer, Radiation Laboratory, Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology (MIT), 1941-1942, staff member, 1942-1945, research staff, 
1946-1953; lecturer, Wellesley College, 1953-1955; senior research associate, 
MIT, 1956-1979 

Pauline Austin was a meteorologist and at one time was the director of weather 
radar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her areas of research were radar- 
scattering cross sections, propagation of electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere, 
storm tracking, and precipitation physics. She was a major participant in a profes- 
sion that until World War II was almost exclusively a male domain. Austin was 
one of the first women identified as a meteorologist in the new era of radar tech- 
nology. Her association with MIT started with the position of "computer" in the 
Radiation Laboratory in 1941, the year she was married to James Murdoch Austin, 
a meteorologist who specialized in air pollution and a pioneer weather broad- 
caster. At that time, several women, both civilians and military personnel, were 
trained under government auspices at the Radiation Laboratory to perform the 
work men formerly had handled. She studied both mathematics and physics as 
an undergraduate, earned a master's degree at Smith, and received her doctorate 
in physics from MIT in 1942, in a program that included only four female students. 
She continued as a member of the MIT Radiation Laboratory research staff until 
1979, except from 1953 to 1955, when she was a lecturer at Wellesley College. 
She became director of MIT's Weather Radar Project. Even after her formal retire- 
ment, she has remained involved in scientific research, and volunteers with the 
Florida Museum of Natural History. 



Avery, Mary Ellen | 203 

Austin received several honors, including an honorary doctorate from Wilson 
College in 1964 and election as a fellow of the American Meteorological Society. 
She served as associate editor of the Journal of Applied Meteorology. 

Further Resources 

Wilson College. Profile. http://www.wilson.edu/wilson/asp/content.asp?id=3431. 



Avery, Mary Ellen 

b. 1927 
Pediatrician 

Education: B.A., Wheaton College, 1948; M.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1952 

Professional Experience: pediatrics staff, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1952-1957; 
research fellow, pediatrics, Harvard University Medical School, 1957-1959; fellow 
in medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 1959-1960, assistant to associate professor, 
pediatrics, 1961-1969, pediatrician, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1962-1969; professor, 
pediatrics, McGill University Children's Hospital, 1969-1974; Thomas Morgan 
Rotch Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard University Medical School, and physician- 
in-chief, Children's Hospital, Boston, 1974-1985, physician-in-chief emeritus, 
1985- 

Mary Ellen Avery is a neonatologist who discovered the medical condition called 
infant respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and participated in developing treatments 
for the condition. She became interested in diseases of the lungs when she developed 
tuberculosis soon after completing medical school in 1952. The standard treatment at 
the time was simply bed rest, and medications to treat the disease were just being 
developed. In her research on infants, she found that RDS resulted from the lack of 
a fluid called pulmonary surfactant, which normally coats the internal surface of 
the lungs. Prior to her studies, it was thought that the hyaline membranes were the 
cause of the infant deaths. She also pioneered the discipline of the metabolism of 
the lung as her work on the surfactant led to the study of the nature of lung tissue. 
In addition to numerous journal publications, Avery has written several books: The 
Lung and Its Disorders in the Newborn Infant (first published in 1964 and considered 
a classic in the field; 4th ed., 1981), Diseases of the Newborn (6th ed., 1991), Born 
Early (1984), and Pediatric Medicine (2nd ed., 1994). 

Avery was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences in 
1994. In addition to honorary degrees, she has received numerous awards, includ- 
ing the Trudeau Medal from the American Lung Association (1984), the National 



204 | Avery, Susan K. 

Medal of Science (1991), the Virginia Apgar Award from the American Academy 
of Pediatrics (1991), a Medical Alumnus Award from Johns Hopkins Medical 
School (1997), the Alfred I. duPont Award for Excellence in Children's Health 
Care (2005), and the John Howland Medal of the American Pediatric Society 
(2005). She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence (president, 2003), and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- 
ences, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Physiological Society, 
the Society of Pediatric Research (president, 1972-1973), and the American Pedi- 
atric Society (president, 1990). 

Further Resources 

Wasserman, Elga. 2002. The Door in the Dream: Conversations with Eminent Women in 
Science. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press. 

"Dr. Mary Ellen Avery." Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America's Women 
Physicians. National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health, http:// 
www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography 17.html. 



Avery, Susan K. 



b. 1950 

Oceanographer, Atmospheric Scientist 

Education: B.S., physics, Michigan State University, 1972; M.S., physics, 
University of Illinois, 1974, Ph.D., atmospheric science, 1978 

Professional Experience: research associate, Aeronomy Laboratory, University 
of Illinois, Urbana, 1978, assistant professor, electrical engineering, Aeronomy 
Laboratory, 1978-1982; associate professor, electrical and computer engineering, 
University of Colorado, Boulder, 1985-1992, professor, 1992-2008; director and 
president, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Massachusetts, 2008- 

Concurrent Positions: visiting fellow, Cooperative Institute for Research in Envi- 
ronmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado, Boulder, 1982-1983, fellow, 
1983-, director, CIRES, 1994-2004; director, Center for Limb Atmospheric 
Sounding (CLAS), University of Colorado, Boulder, 1996-2004 

Susan Avery is an oceanographer and atmospheric researcher who became the first 
female director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 2008. As the head 
of Woods Hole (one of the oldest and most prestigious oceanographic research cen- 
ters in the United States), Avery presents ocean and earth sciences research and 



Avery, Susan K. | 205 

perspectives to the U.S. government and to international organizations and confer- 
ences that inform policy and educational agendas. Before joining Woods Hole, 
Avery was a professor of atmospheric engineering at the University of Colorado 
and, previously, the University of Illinois. Her own research has focused on the 
development of radar techniques and remote sensing for studying precipitation, 
climate, and other geophysical and atmospheric data. Avery also held a number 
of high-level administrative posts at Colorado, including associate dean of the 
College of Engineering and Interim Vice Chancellor. She served for 10 years as 
director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, a 
research and policy organization for which she also coordinated K-12 education 
efforts. 

Avery earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Michigan State University 
and a master's degree in physics and a doctorate in atmospheric science from the 
University of Illinois in 1978. She has consulted for or served on the boards or 
advisory panels of numerous educational, policy, and government organizations, 
including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 
national Climate Change Science Program, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the 
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, the National Science Founda- 
tion, and the National Research Council. 

Avery was acknowledged for her service, teaching, and scholarship by several 
awards of the University of Colorado, including the Margaret Willard Award of the 
University Women's Club (1995), Elizabeth Gee Memorial Lectureship Award 
(1998), and Robert L. Stearns Award (1999). She was also honored with a National 
Science Foundation Faculty Award for Women (1991) and an Outstanding Publica- 
tion Award of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (1990), and was a 
Charter Member of the National Associates Program of the National Academies of 
Science (2001). She is also a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engi- 
neers, American Meteorological Society (president, 2004), American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, and a member of the American Geophysical Union. 

Further Resources 

"Biography: Susan K. Avery, PhD." http://www.whoi.edu/page. do ?pid= 19538. 



B 



Baber, Mary Arizona "Zonia" 



1862 1956 
Geographer 

Education: B.S., University of Chicago, 1904 

Professional Experience: principal, private school, 1886-1888; teacher, Cook 
County Normal School, 1888-1890, head, department of geography, 1890-1899; 
associate professor and head, geography and geology department, School of Edu- 
cation, University of Chicago, 1901-1921, principal, Elementary School, School 
of Education, University of Chicago, 1901-1921 

Zonia Baber was one of the earliest women geographers and was recognized as a 
pioneer in developing a rational basis for teaching geography. Her career paral- 
leled the pattern of many women of her age, that of teaching school for a number 
of years before obtaining an undergraduate degree; in fact, she was already teach- 
ing geography and geology at the University of Chicago at the time she received 
her degree in 1904, another practice common at that time. She was noted for the 
quality of the curriculum of her geology department at the university. She was a 
member of several professional societies and was one of the founding members 
of the Chicago Geographic Society. At the fiftieth anniversary meeting of the society 
in 1848, Baber was presented with a Gold Medal in recognition of her role in its 
founding and her service as President of the Society. 

Baber authored Stony Island: A Plea for its Conservation (1917), a publication 
of the Geographic Society of Chicago. Later, she was involved in the peace move- 
ment and published a pamphlet of the Women's International League of Peace and 
Freedom (WILPF) entitled Peace Symbols (1948). A member of the National 
Society for the Scientific Study of Education, she wrote several journal articles 
on the topic of teaching geography. Some sources erroneously identify her name 
as "Barber." 

Further Resources 

Monk, Janice. 2004. "Women, Gender, and the Histories of American Geography." Annals 
of the Association of American Geographers. 94(1): 1 22. (March 2004). 



207 



208 | Baca Zinn, Maxine 
Baca Zinn, Maxine 



b. 1942 
Sociologist 

Education: B.A., California State College, Long Beach (now California State 
University, Long Beach), 1966; M.A., University of New Mexico, 1970; Ph.D., 
sociology, University of Oregon, 1978 

Professional Experience: instructor, New Careers Program, University of New 
Mexico, 1969-1971; instructor, sociology, University of New Mexico, 1970-1971; 
instructor, sociology and Chicano Studies, University of Michigan, Flint, 1975- 
1978, assistant professor to professor, sociology, 1978-1990; professor and Senior 
Research Associate, Julian Samora Research Institute, Michigan State University, 
1990- 

Concurrent Positions: program faculty, Master of Liberal Studies in American 
Culture, University of Michigan, Flint, 1978-1990; faculty associate, Survey 
Research Center, University of Michigan, 1979-1981; visiting scholar, Center 
for Research on Women, Memphis State University, 1984; visiting professor, soci- 
ology, University of California, Berkeley, 1986; Research Professor in Residence, 
Center for Research on Women, Memphis State University, 1987; Distinguished 
Visiting Professor, Women's Studies, University of Delaware, 1988-1989; guest 
professor, sociology, University of Connecticut, 1988; visiting scholar, Henry A. 
Murray Research Center, Radcliffe College, 1997 

Maxine Baca Zinn was one of the first people to conduct sociological work on Latino 
families and Mexican American women. She is a pioneer in the field of family, race, 
and ethnic relations, and some of her colleagues refer to her as one of the mothers of 
Chicana feminism. As an undergraduate sociology student, she could not identify 
with what her professors were saying when they were discussing minorities, for the 
discussions in no way reflected the Chicana life she knew. 

Baca Zinn argues that Mexican American women have been especially 
maligned because of erroneous assumptions and limited empirical research. In 
an 1982 essay in the journal Signs, she explained that Chicanas "have been por- 
trayed as long-suffering mothers who are subject to the brutality of insecure hus- 
bands and whose only function is to produce children — as women who 
themselves are childlike, simple, and completely dependent on fathers, brothers, 
and husbands. Machismo and its counterpart of female submissiveness are 
assumed to be rooted in a native cultural heritage." Her research has focused on 
examining the more complex roles of the Chicana in society, highlighting the simi- 
larities between all minority women — Chicana, black, Asian, and so forth — and 



Baetjer, Anna Medora | 209 

arguing that minority women's subordination lies, in part, in their exclusion from 
American public life. In her book, Women of Color in U.S. Society (1995), she 
and other scholars explore race, class, and gender as systems of oppression against 
women of color in the United States. She has published numerous articles and 
books chapters on Chicana women and minority family structure. 

Baca Zinn has received several awards for her research, including Outstanding 
Alumnus Awards from both California State University, Long Beach (1990) and 
the University of New Mexico (1993), the Cheryl Miller Lecturer Award on 
Women and Social Change (1989), the Meyers Center Book Award for the Study 
of Human Rights in North America (1997), and two separate prestigious awards 
from the American Sociological Association in 2000. She has also received a spe- 
cial recognition award for contributions to the Western Social Science Associa- 
tion, of which she was president in 1985-1986. 

Further Resources 

Michigan State University. Faculty website, http://www.jsri.msu.edu/bacazinn/. 



Baetjer, Anna Medora 

1899 1984 

Physiologist, Toxicologist 

Education: A.B., Wellesley College, 1920; Sc.D., physiology, physiological 
hygiene, and industrial health, Johns Hopkins University, 1924 

Professional Experience: assistant, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns 
Hopkins University, 1923-1924, instructor, 1924-1927, associate, 1927-1945, 
assistant to associate professor, environmental medicine, 1945-1961, professor, 
1962-1970 

Anna Baetjer was a physiologist and toxicologist who studied the relationship 
between chromium and cancer as a pioneer in the field of occupational health. 
Among her many publications was the wartime report on Women in Industry: 
Their Health and Efficiency (1946), which made recommendations on workplace 
accommodations for women workers. She spent most of her career in the School 
of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, where, in 1963, she 
helped establish one of the first environmental toxicology programs and helped 
set global standards for worker health. She was a frequent advisor and consultant 
to associations and government committees concerning occupational health and 
toxicology, such as the National Research Council, the Environmental Protection 



210 I Bahcall, Neta 

Agency, and the U.S. Army Environment Hygiene Agency. Her earliest studies in 
the 1920s examined the effects of temperature and humidity on workers. By the 
1950s and 1960s, she was warning about the effects of air pollution and calling 
for further studies on workplace chemical exposure. Even after her retirement in 
1970, she remained active as a researcher and public health advocate, and her find- 
ings had an impact on studies related to environmental toxins, cancer, and lead 
poisoning, among other issues. 

Baetjer was a member of numerous commissions and committees, including a 
consultant for the preventive medicine division of the Office of Surgeon General 
of the Army (beginning in 1947), a member of the board of trustees of the Mellon 
Institute (beginning in 1958), and a member of the advisory committee on safety 
of pesticide residues in foods to the Food and Drug Administration (1966-1970). 
She was elected president of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (1951), 
and she received the Cummings Memorial Award (1964), the Kehoe Award of 
the American Academy of Occupational Medicine (1976), the Stokinger Award of 
the American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists (1980), and the Alice 
Hamilton Award (1997). She received honorary degrees from Woman's Medical 
College of Pennsylvania (1953), Wheaton College (1966), and Johns Hopkins 
University (1979). Johns Hopkins also established a chair in her name, the Anna M. 
Baetjer Chair in Environmental Health Sciences. Baetjer was a member of the 
American Physiological Society and the American Public Health Association. 

Further Resources 

"Occupational Health's Dynamo." Prologues. Johns Hopkins Public Health Magazine. 
(Fall 2001). http://www.jhsph.edu/magazineFall01/Prologues.htm. 



Bahcall, Neta 

b. 1942 
Astrophysicist 

Education: B.S., physics and mathematics, Hebrew University, Israel, 1963; M.S., 
physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, 1965; Ph.D., astrophysics, Tel Aviv 
University, Israel, 1970 

Professional Experience: research fellow, physics, California Institute of Technol- 
ogy, 1970-1971; research associate to senior research astronomer, astrophysical sci- 
ences, Princeton University, 1971-1983; chief, General Observer Support Branch, 
and head, Science Program Selection Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, 



Bahcall, Neta | 211 







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1983-1989; professor, astrophysical 
sciences, Princeton University, 1989-; 
director, Council on Science and Tech- 
nology of Princeton University, 2000- 
2008 

Neta Bahcall is an astrophysicist and 
cosmologist whose research focuses 
on dark matter, the formation and evo- 
lution of galaxies, quasars, and the 
large-scale structure of the universe. 
She has mapped the structure and loca- 
tion of galaxies within the universe 
using the Hubble Space Telescope and 
other survey tools. Her most significant 
contribution to the field of astrophysics 
is her calculations of the total mass of 
the universe, which helps scientists 
understand both the origins and fate of 
the universe. She received her Ph.D. 
in astrophysics at Tel Aviv University 
in Israel and that same year became 

affiliated with Princeton University. She has spent her entire teaching career at 
Princeton University and has been a full professor since 1989. During the 
1980s, she spent time at the Space Telescope Science Institute and was in charge 
of selecting science programs that would use the Hubble Space Telescope. She 
collaborated for many years with her late husband, John Bahcall, also a renowned 
astrophysicist who worked on the development of the Hubble Space Telescope. 
She has authored or co-authored (with John Bahcall and others) hundreds of 
scientific papers and articles. 

Neta Bahcall was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 
1997. She has been an invited lecturer for professional organizations and univer- 
sities across the United States and internationally, including as lecturer at the 
Nobel Symposium in Stockholm (1998). She is a member of the American Astro- 
nomical Society (vice president, 1995-1998) and has served on numerous profes- 
sional and governmental committees including the National Astronomy and 
Astrophysics Advisory Committee (2003-present), Space Telescope Institute 
Council (1993-1997), U.S. National Committee to IAU (1998-2004), Scientific 
Advisory Committee, Sloan Digital Sky Survey (1990-1995), and the American 
Institute of Physics Committee on International Relations (1990-1993), and as 



Astrophysicist Neta Bahcall. (Princeton 
University, Office of Communications, 
Denise Applewhite) 



212 | Bailey, Florence Augusta Merriam 

chair of the AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (1983). She 
has received an honorary doctorate from Ohio State University (2006). She has 
three children, all of whom have earned doctorates in the sciences. 

Further Resources 

Princeton University. Faculty website, http://www.astro.princeton.edu/people/bahcall 
neta.html. 

Schultz, Steven. "Astrophysicist Reaches for the Stars and More." Princeton Weekly 
Bulletin 92(15). (10 February 2003). http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/03/0210/lb 
.shtml. 



Bailey, Florence Augusta Merriam 

1863 1948 
Ornithologist 

Education: A.B., Smith College, 1921 

Professional Experience: independent author 

Florence Bailey was a popularizer of natural history who specialized in ornithology. 
Her first book was Birds through an Opera Glass (1889), which was comprised 
of revised versions of articles she had contributed as a student to Audubon 
Magazine. In 1894, she published My Summer in a Mormon Village, in 1896, 
A-Birding on a Bronco, and in 1 898, Birds of Village and Field. The latter is a book 
for beginners in ornithology and one of the first popular American bird guides. Her 
brother, Clinton Hart Merriam, was the first chief of the U.S. Biological Survey, 
and her husband, Vernon Bailey, was its chief naturalist. She joined her husband 
on the majority of his field research trips, observing the birds about which she 
wrote. She also wrote chapters on birds in some of her husband's books, notably 
Wild Animals of Glacier National Park (1918) and Cave Life of Kentucky (1933). 
Her Handbook of Birds of the Western United States (1902) was a standard work 
for many years. She wrote the first comprehensive report on the bird life of the 
Southwest in Birds of New Mexico (1928), published by the New Mexico Depart- 
ment of Game and Fish. 

Bailey was the first woman member of the American Ornithologists' Union in 
1885 and, in 1929, was elected the first woman fellow. In 1931, she was the first 
woman to receive the Brewster Award of the American Ornithologists' Union. In 
1933, the University of New Mexico awarded her an honorary LL.D. degree. In 
some sources, she is listed as "Mrs. Vernon Bailey." 



Banfield, Jillian F. | 213 

Further Resources 

Bonta, MarciaM. 1995. American Women Afield: Writings by Pioneering Women Naturalists. 
College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 

Kofalk, Harriet. 1989. No Woman Tenderfoot: Florence Merriam Bailey, Pioneer Naturalist. 
College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 

Holmes, Madelyn. 2004. American Women Conservationists: Twelve Profiles. Jefferson, 
NC: McFarland. 



Banfield, Jillian F. 

b. 1959 
Geochemist 

Education: B.Sc, Australian National University, Canberra City, 1981, M.Sc., 
1985; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1990 

Professional Experience: exploration geologist, Western Mining Corporation, 
1982-1983; research assistant, electron microscopy, Australian National Univer- 
sity, 1985-1986; assistant to associate professor, geology and geophysics and 
Materials Science Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1990-1999, pro- 
fessor, 1999-2001; professor, earth and planetary science and environmental sci- 
ence, policy, and management, University of California, Berkeley, 2001- 

Concurrent Positions: associate professor, Mineralogical Institute, University of 
Tokyo, 1996-1997, professor, 1998; visiting research fellow, Australian National 
University, 1998-2000; affiliate faculty, chemistry, University of Wisconsin, 
Madison, 1998-2001; researcher, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2001- 

Jillian Banfield is an earth scientist who specializes in mineralogy and geochemis- 
try. Her research focuses on the effect of microorganisms and biochemical pro- 
cesses on minerals, metals, and crystal growth. Banfield was born in Australia 
and received her bachelor's and master's degrees from Australian National Univer- 
sity. She moved to the United States to conduct doctoral research at Johns Hopkins 
University in Baltimore, Maryland. She received her Ph.D. in 1990 and joined the 
faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she taught for 1 1 years. 
During that time, she took a leave of absence to teach for two years at the Mineral- 
ogical Institute at the University of Tokyo. In 2002, she moved to the University of 
California, Berkeley as professor of earth, planetary, and environmental sciences. 
She is also affiliated with the geochemistry group at Lawrence Berkeley National 
Laboratory. She has served on advisory committees for the National Academy of 
Science Board on Earth Sciences and Resources and the U.S. Department of 



214 | Baranescu, Rodica 

Energy Geoscience Advisory Committee, and has been involved in an astrobiology 
research with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) analyzing 
potential evidence of biological materials in planetary geological samples. 

Banfield was the recipient of a prestigious five-year MacArthur Foundation 
"genius" grant (1999-2004) and, during this same time period, a Guggenheim 
fellowship (2000). Her other awards and honors include the Mineralogical Society 
of America Award (1997), D. A. Brown Medal from her alma mater, Australian 
National University (1999), and Marion L. and Christie M. Jackson Award of the 
Clay Minerals Society (2000). She has also been honored as the Gast Lecturer of 
the Geochemical Society (2000), the Inaugural National Science Foundation Earth 
Science Week Lecturer (2000), and the Rosenqvist Lecturer in Norway (2005), 
and was the Pioneer Lecturer for the Clay Minerals Society (2005). She is a member 
of the Mineralogical Society of America, Clay Minerals Society, American 
Geophysical Union, and American Society for Microbiology. 

Further Resources 

University of California, Berkeley. Faculty website, http://eps.berkeley.edu/~jill/. 



Baranescu, Rodica 

b. 1940 

Mechanical Engineer 

Education: B.S., mechanical engineering, Institute Francais du Petrol, Rueil- 
Malmaison; M.S., mechanical engineering, Politehnica University, Bucharest, 
Romania, 1961, Ph.D., mechanical engineering, 1970 

Professional Experience: assistant to associate professor, Politehnica University, 
Bucharest, Romania, 1964-1978; chief engineer, Engine Performance Analysis, 
Technical Center of Engine and Foundry Division, International Truck and Engine 
Corporation, and manager, Fuels and Lubricants and Engine Group, International 
Truck and Engine Corporation, 1980-; professor, Mechanical and Industrial Engi- 
neering, University of Illinois, Chicago, 2005- 

Rodica Baranescu is a mechanical engineer who has worked in the automotive 
industry on the development of diesel truck engines, and researching alternative 
fuels, energy, and emissions control. She received her education in France and at 
the Politehnica University in Bucharest, Romania, where she also taught for 
14 years. She came to the United States in 1980 to work for International Harvester 
Company, now International Truck and Engine Corporation. She has served as 
chief engineer for Engine Performance Analysis and manager of the Fuels and 



Bartoshuk, Linda | 215 

Lubricants division. She is co-author of two Romanian patents: Internal Combus- 
tion Engine with Damping Chamber and Accumulator Fuel Injection System for 
Diesel Engine. In 2005, she began an affiliation with the University of Illinois, 
Chicago as professor of mechanical and industrial engineering and has been an 
invited speaker and lecturer for industry and academic groups worldwide. She 
was co-editor of the 1999 edition of the Diesel Engine Reference Book. 

Baranescu was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2001. She is 
a fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers International (S AE) and was S AE 
president in 2000, the first woman to lead that group. Through the SAE, she com- 
mitted herself to promoting engineering education and careers among young 
people and to increasing the presence of women and minorities in the field of auto- 
motive engineering; at that time, less than 5% of SAE members were women. She 
is the recipient of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME) 
Internal Combustion Engine Award (2003). 

Further Resources 

Hatch, Sybil E. 2006. Changing Our World: True Stories of Women Engineers. Reston, 
VA: American Society of Civil Engineers. 

University of Illinois. Faculty website, http://www.mie.uic.edu/faculty/baranescu.htm. 



Bartoshuk, Linda 

b. 1938 
Psychologist 

Education: B.A., psychology, Carleton College, Minnesota, 1960; M.Sc, 
psychology, Brown University, 1963, Ph.D., psychology, 1965 

Professional Experience: research associate, Brown University, 1964-1966, 
lecturer, 1966-1968; affiliate assistant professor, Clark University, 1966-1969; 
research psychologist, Natick Army Laboratories, 1966-1970; assistant fellow, 
John B. Pierce Foundation, 1970-1973, associate, 1974-1985, fellow, 1985- 
1989; assistant professor, epidemiology and public health, Yale University, 
1971-1976, associate professor, epidemiology and public health, and psychology, 
1976-1985, professor, 1985-1988, professor, surgery (otolaryngology) and 
psychology, Yale University, 1989-2005; professor, Community Dentistry and 
Behavioral Science, University of Florida, College of Dentistry, 2005- 

Linda Bartoshuk is a research psychologist who conducts innovative research on 
perceptions of taste and smell. She has researched how genetic differences in taste, 



216 | Bartoshuk, Linda 

and damage to taste buds, affect our sense of pain and our overall health. She spent 
many years as otolaryngology researcher and professor of epidemiology, public 
health, and psychology at Yale University before moving to the McKnight Brain 
Institute's Center for Taste and Smell at the University of Florida College of Den- 
tistry. In particular, she has looked at how the taste buds send signals to the brain, 
and the effects of hormones and of cancer therapy and disease on taste. Her work 
has clinical and pharmaceutical applications for treating patients with oral pain 
and taste bud damage, as well as applications to the food industries in linking taste 
preferences to health and dietary needs. 

Bartoshuk received her doctorate in psychology from Brown University in 
1965. She worked at the Natick Army Research Labs before joining the Pierce 
Foundation and then the faculty at Yale University in 1971. She has been an editor 
or consulting editor for journals such as Chemical Senses, Perception and Psycho- 
physics, and Sensory Processes. She has served on numerous advisory boards and 
committees for the National Institutes of Health and the National Research Council, 
and was on the Women's Affairs Advisory Committee of the American Association 
of Dental Schools. 

Bartoshuk was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2003 and 
in 2008 was appointed to a three-year term on the Council of the NAS. She is a fel- 
low of the Society for Experimental Psychologists, the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences, and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, and a 
founding member of the Association for Psychological Science (president, 
2008). She is also a member of the American Psychological Association, American 
Psychological Society, Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS) 
(president, 1980-1981), Eastern Psychological Association (president, 1990- 
1991), Psychonomic Society, and Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior. 
She received an honorary doctorate from Carleton College (2001). Among her 
numerous other awards and honors are the Manheimer Award of Monell Chemical 
Senses Institute (1990), the Leah Lowenstein Award of Yale University School of 
Medicine (1991), AChemS Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Chemical 
Senses (1998), a Distinguished Contribution Award of the New England Psycho- 
logical Association (2000), and the International Flavors and Fragrances Award 
for Innovative Research (2004). 

Further Resources 

O'Connell, Agnes N. and Nancy Felipe Russo, eds. 2001. Models of Achievement: 
Reflections of Eminent Women in Psychology. Vol. 3. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum 
Associates. 

"Cool Careers in Science." PBS interview. http://www.pbs.Org/safarchive/5 cool/53c 
bartoshuk.html. 



Bascom, Florence | 217 

Bascom, Florence 

1862 1945 
Geologist 

Education: A.B., B.L., University of Wisconsin, 1882, B.S., 1884, M.A., geology, 
1887; Ph.D., geology, Johns Hopkins University, 1893 

Professional Experience: instructor, geology and petrology, Ohio State University, 
1893-1895; lecturer and associate professor, geology, Bryn Mawr College, 1895— 
1906, professor, 1906-1928; geological assistant, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 
1896-1901, assistant geologist, 1901-1909, geologist, 1909-1936 

Florence Bascom introduced the microscopic study of minerals in the United States 
and is considered the first female professional geologist. She was a petrologist who 
studied rock formations and published numerous articles on the crystalline rocks of 
the Piedmont area from the Susquehanna River to Trenton, New Jersey. She was the 
first woman to receive a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University and the first 
American woman to receive a doctorate in geology. After teaching for two years 
at Ohio State University, she moved to Bryn Mawr College. At that time, Bryn 
Mawr had no facilities for geological research, but Bascom secured rock and min- 
eral specimens and expanded her geology course into a full major. She soon was 
accepting graduate students from all over the country and from Europe, training 
an entire generation of American women geologists. One of her students was 
Eleanora Bliss Knopf, who also went on to work for the USGS. In 1896, Bascom 
became the first woman scientist hired at the USGS. She retired from teaching at 
Bryn Mawr in 1928 due to poor health, but continued conducting fieldwork and 
laboratory research for USGS for several more years. 

Bascom came from an academic background, as her father, John Bascom, was a 
professor at Williams College in Massachusetts and later president of the Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin, where Florence enrolled as an undergraduate, receiving three 
separate bachelor's degrees as well as a master's degree in geology. She then 
enrolled in Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Johns Hopkins did 
not yet officially admit women or grant women degrees, but allowed them to take 
graduate courses. Bascom sat behind a screen during classes, separate from the 
male students, and received her doctorate from Johns Hopkins in 1893 by special 
dispensation. 

Bascom accomplished several other "firsts" in her field, including as the first 
woman to present a scientific paper at the Geological Society of Washington, the 
first woman to be elected a fellow of the Geological Society of America (1894), 
and the first female officer of that organizations (vice president, 1930). She also 
served as editor of The American Geologist. 



218 I Bates, Grace Elizabeth 

Further Resources 

Arnold, Lois Barber. 1984. Four Lives in Science: Women's Education in the Nineteenth 
Century. New York: Shocken Books. 

Burek, Cynthia V. and Bettie Higgs. 2007. The Role of Women in the History of Geology. 
London: Geological Society of London. 



Bates, Grace Elizabeth 

1914 1996 
Mathematician 

Education: B.S., Middlebury College, 1935; Sc.M., Brown University, 1938; 
Ph.D., mathematics, University of Illinois, 1946 

Professional Experience: teacher, high school, 1935-1936, 1938-1943; instruc- 
tor, mathematics, Sweet Briar College, 1943-1944; assistant professor to profes- 
sor, Mount Holyoke College, 1946-1979 

Grace Bates is recognized for her work as a mathematician at a distinguished 
women's college, Mount Holyoke. As a high school student in the 1920s, Bates 
had to get special permission as a woman to take advanced mathematics courses. 
Again, as a student on the women's campus at Middlebury College, she found that 
the most advanced courses were open only to male students and she had to petition 
the administration to be able to pursue her mathematics education. She worked as 
a high school teacher for a year after receiving her undergraduate degree and again 
taught after receiving her master's degree. She then moved to Sweet Briar College 
for one year before joining the faculty at Mount Holyoke. She received her doctor- 
ate from the University of Illinois, originally intending to study geometry but 
switching to abstract algebra, working under renowned German mathematician 
Reinhold Baer. She returned to teach at her alma mater, Mount Holyoke, where 
she earned tenure and ultimately advanced to full professor. Like many professors 
at the women's colleges, Bates never married and never had children. She lived 
and worked on campus until forced to retire in 1979. 

Bates was active as both a scholar and a teacher, continuing her education in 
new mathematical fields to support her teaching. In the 1950s, she spent several 
summers in Berkeley with Jerzy Neyman, considered by some to be the founder 
of modern statistics. She ultimately contributed several papers on algebra and 
probability theory to technical journals and was the co-author of two books, The 
Real Number System (1960) and Modern Algebra, Second Course (1963). Among 
the honors she received was an honorary degree from Middlebury College (1972). 



Bateson, Mary Catherine | 219 

She was a member of numerous professional societies, including the American 
Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. 

Further Resources 

Murray, Margaret Anne Marie. 2000. Women Becoming Mathematicians: Creating an 
Identity in Post World War II America. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 



Bateson, Mary Catherine 



b. 1939 

Cultural Anthropologist, Linguist 

Education: B.A., Radcliffe College, 1960; Ph.D., Arabic languages, Harvard 
University, 1963 

Professional Experience: associate professor, anthropology, Ateneo de Manila 
University, 1966-1968; senior research fellow, psychology and philosophy, Brandeis 
University, 1968-1969; research staff member, Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology, 1969-1971; visiting professor, anthropology, Northeastern University, 
1969-1971 and 1974-1975; researcher, University of Tehran, 1972-1974; professor, 
anthropology and dean of graduate studies, Damavand College, Tehran, 1975-1977; 
professor, anthropology and dean of social science and humanities, University of 
Northern Iran, 1977-1979; visiting scholar, anthropology, Harvard University, 
1979-1980; professor, anthropology, Amherst College, 1980-1987, dean of faculty, 
1980-1983; Clarence Robinson Professor of Anthropology and English, George 
Mason University, 1987-2002, Professor Emerita 

Concurrent Positions: president, Institute for Intercultural Studies, New York 
City, 1979-2009; Visiting Scholar, Center on Aging and Work, Boston College, 
2006- 

Mary Catherine Bateson is a cultural anthropologist whose most recent work, 
Full Circles, Overlapping Lives: Culture and Generation in Transition (2000), 
is a study of how individuals learn about gender, race, and other social differ- 
ences through the intergenerational context of the family. For the book, Bateson 
incorporated research on and life histories of women from a variety of ethnic and 
economic contexts around the world. Bateson's early interest in anthropology 
was influenced by her famous parents, the pioneer anthropologists Margaret 
Mead and Gregory Bateson. Her parents had progressive ideas about rearing 
and educating children, and her mother adopted certain mother-child interactions 



220 | Bateson, Mary Catherine 



she had observed in primitive societies, 
such as on-demand breastfeeding, 
which was not common in the United 
States in the 1940s. 

As a college student at Radcliffe, 
Bateson met J. Barkev Kassarjian, an 
Armenian student at Harvard, and 
they married before either of them 
had completed a doctorate. After 
graduation, the couple moved to the 
Philippines, where they both taught 
at universities. Catherine added 
anthropology and psychology to her 
interest in linguistics in order to 
secure employment. The couple then 
moved to Iran, where both taught in 
universities until the political situation 
became unstable. The couple had a 
daughter and moved to California for 
a short time to help Gregory Bateson 
complete his book, Mind and Nature 
(1979). After several interim appoint- 
ments, Bateson secured a position in 
1980 as professor of anthropology and, later, dean of the faculty at Amherst 
College. In her book Composing a Life (1989), she gives a detailed account of her 
efforts to open the curricula to new areas of study and to retain more women faculty 
members. Although she served as a dean for three years at Amherst, she herself 
experienced discrimination by the college and left in 1987 for a position at George 
Mason University, where she remained until her retirement in 2002. 

Bateson is a member of the American Anthropological Association. She 
has published numerous scientific papers and received prestigious fellowships 
from the Ford Foundation (1961-63), the National Science Foundation (1968-69), 
and Guggenheim (1987-88). In addition to her own autobiographies, information 
about her early life is included in a biography of her famous parents, With a 
Daughter's Eye (1984). 




Anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson. 
(Steve Liss/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images) 



Further Resources 

"Biography." http://www.marycatherinebateson.com/bio.html. 



Beall, Cynthia | 221 



Beall, Cynthia 



b. 1949 
Anthropologist 

Education: B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1970; M.A., Pennsylvania State 
University, 1972, Ph.D., anthropology, 1976 

Professional Experience: assistant professor to professor, anthropology, Case 
Western Reserve University, 1976- 

Concurrent Positions: founding co-editor, Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 
1986-1995 

Cynthia Beall is a renowned anthropologist and an authority on how people live at 
high altitudes. Beall has examined both the physical and the social aspects of 
people in Tibet, Mongolia, Peru, Bolivia, Nepal, and Ethiopia. Her studies 
have included such diverse topics as China's birth-control policy in Tibet, the 
impact of China's reform policy on 

I 



the nomads, the hemoglobin concen- 
tration in people at high altitudes, 
age differences and sensory and cog- 
nitive functions in elderly Nepalese, 
and the physical fitness of elderly 
Nepalese farmers. 

In Nomads of Western Tibet: The 
Survival of a Way of Life (1990), Beall 
and co-author M. C. Goldstein present 
an overview of the life of Tibetan 
nomads in the years since the Chinese 
invaded the country in 1950. It is a 
collection of photographs with a short, 
nontechnical text, and an article in 
National Geographic (June 1989) 
summarized their 16-month project. 
Theirs was the first research team 
to receive permission to conduct a 
long-term study of the area since the 
Chinese invasion. In The Changing 
World of Mongolian Nomads (1994), 




Anthropologist Cynthia Beall. (AP/Wide World 
Photos) 



222 | Beattie, Mollie Hanna 

the authors described a three-year study of Mongolia after the death of communism 
led to the privatization of the nomads' collective farming system. An overview of 
that study was also published in National Geographic (May 1993). 

Beall's research has been sponsored by grants from the National Science Foun- 
dation, the National Geographic Society, and the American Federation for Aging 
Research. She is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, American Anthropological Association, American Association of Physical 
Anthropology, Human Biology Council (president, 1991-1994), Society for the 
Study of Human Biology, Association for Anthropology and Gerontology, Council 
for Nutritional Anthropology, and Gerontological Society of America. Beall was 
elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1996. 

Further Resources 

Case Western Reserve University. Faculty website, http://www.case.edu/artsci/anth/ 
beall.html. 



Beattie, Mollie Hanna 



1947 1996 

Forester, Government Official 

Education: B.A., philosophy, Marymount College, 1968; M.S., forestry, University 
of Vermont, 1979; M.A., public administration, Kennedy School of Government, 
Harvard University, 1991 

Professional Experience: newspaper reporter; tour guide, Outward Bound, 
1974-1976; program director, Windham Foundation, 1983-1985; commissioner 
of forests and parks, Vermont, 1985-1989; deputy secretary, Vermont Agency of 
Natural Resources, 1989-1990; executive director, Richard A. Snelling Center 
for Government, 1991-1993; director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1993-1996 

Mollie Beattie was the first woman to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but 
unfortunately she served only three years before she died of a brain tumor. Before 
taking the position with the Fish and Wildlife Service, she was with the Richard A. 
Snelling Center for Government, a public-policy institute that is now affiliated 
with the University of Vermont. Its aims are to educate citizens about state and 
local governments. Her experiences with the Vermont natural resources, forests, 
and parks agencies prepared her for similar activities on a national level. While 



Beattie, Mollie Hanna | 223 



she was head of the Fish and Wildlife 
Service, her organization enforced 
wildlife laws, administered the Endan- 
gered Species Act, and carried out 
wetland protection and management. 

Beattie was committed to the 
Endangered Species Act and to envi- 
ronmentalism in her personal life. As 
a child, she was introduced to nature 
studies by her grandmother, Harriet 
Hanna, a self-trained botanist in 
upstate New York. As an adult, she 
and her husband lived in a house in 
the Green Mountains, where they used 
solar power for their energy require- 
ments, but the noise of the urban envi- 
ronment was still disturbing. In 1993, 
she published Working with Your 
Woodland: A Landowner's Guide. 
Professionally, she oversaw the reintro- 
duction of the gray wolf into the 

northern Rocky Mountains and won the support of the environmental community 
when she served as vice chair of a 1991 commission created by the Defenders of 
Wildlife organization to study the condition and future of the 91 -million-acre 
National Wildlife Refuge System. During her confirmation hearings for the posi- 
tion, some of the senators asked her if she did any hunting. She replied that 
although she did not hunt, she valued hunters as a major conservation support group 
and did not see hunting or fishing as incompatible with biodiversity goals. She used 
the culling of deer in the national parks to prevent the overgrazing of vegetation as 
an example and said she found biodiversity concepts a good strategy for maintain- 
ing wildlife. Her plan to conserve species was to manage the entire ecosystem 
instead of waiting until individual species became endangered. After her death in 
1996, a wilderness area in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska was named 
in her honor. 




Forester Mollie Hanna Beattie was the first 
woman to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service. (AP/Wide World Photos) 



Further Resources 

Holmes, Madelyn. 2004. American Women Conservationists: Twelve Profiles. Jefferson, 
NC: McFarland. 



224 | Bell, Gwen (Dru'yor) 
Bell, Gwen (Dru'yor) 



b. 1934 

Geographer, Computer Museum Founder 

Education: B.A., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1955; Master of City and 
Regional Planning, Harvard University, 1957; Ph.D., geography, Clark University, 
1967 

Professional Experience: faculty member, Graduate School of Public and 
International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, 1966-1973; founder and director, 
Computer Museum, Boston, 1980- 

Gwen Bell has made a unique contribution to the computer industry by founding 
and directing a museum to house a wide array of computers and components, even 
including a number of computer games. In addition, she was the first person cred- 
ited with developing a geographic information system on a computer and with pro- 
ducing a variety of maps. She was first introduced to computers while on Fulbright 
scholarship in Australia and then used the TX-0 at the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology to analyze a redevelopment area of Boston. 

After receiving her doctorate, she taught in the Graduate School of Public and 
International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. In the 1970s, she worked as 
a United Nations consultant on planning and edited a journal and three books. 
Her husband, Gordon Bell, an engineering executive at DEC, was a computer 
junkie who, along with his wife, had long been collecting computing and calculat- 
ing artifacts. In 1978, Ken Olsen, president of Digital Equipment Corporation 
(DEC), asked Bell if the TX-O computer could possibly be rebuilt in DEC head- 
quarters at Marlboro, Massachusetts. This request started Gwen Bell on a project 
to establish a computer museum, which she did in 1979. As computers have 
shrunk in size, the museum has been able to include entire machines, like the 
PDP-1, DEC's first computer, and the Altair of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology. Many of the display items are in working order, especially the per- 
sonal computers, and older models are loaded with the software that was devel- 
oped for them. Many of the major exhibits have been designed by local students 
using their own time and energy to develop lively presentations. 

The museum, now called the Computer History Museum and located in Silicon 
Valley in California, sponsors a number of lectures by computer pioneers each year, 
and these have been videotaped for use by scholars in the future. A video by Bell 
entitled "Computer Pioneers and Pioneer Computers" (1996) is available commer- 
cially, and many exhibits can be viewed online. Bell is a member of the Association 
for Computing Machinery (ACM) and served as president of the ACM between 
1992 and 1994. 



Benedict, Ruth Fulton | 225 



Further Resources 

"The Computer History Museum." http://www.computerhistory.org/. 



Benedict, Ruth Fulton 

1887 1948 
Anthropologist 

Education: A.B., English, Vassar College, 1909; Ph.D., anthropology, Columbia 
University, 1923 

Professional Experience: lecturer, anthropology, Columbia University, 1924- 
1930, assistant professor to professor, 1930-1948 

Ruth Benedict originated the controversial concept of patterns of culture, which 
combined anthropology with sociology, psychology, and philosophy. At mid- 
century, she was recognized along with Frank Boas as one of the country's leading 
anthropologists. After receiving her undergraduate degree at Vassar (her mother 
was also a Vassar graduate and school teacher), she taught school for a few years 
and then married. Becoming bored with charitable work, in 1919, she enrolled in 
The New School for Social Research at Columbia University, where she received 
her doctorate in anthropology in 1923, and where she met and worked with Boas 
as well as with Margaret Mead, with whom she had an intimate relationship. 
Benedict made her first field trip in 1922 to the Serrano Indians and spent 
subsequent summers studying other tribes, such as the Zuni Pueblo, Apache, and 
Blackfoot. 

In her 1934 book Patterns of Culture, Benedict proposed her holistic theory of 
culture to explain why certain personalities and types were valued in one society 
while discouraged in another. In an era of fascism, racism, and ethnic stereotyping 
for political purposes, Benedict's theory was controversial because it called for 
judging each culture only on its own merits and values, and argued that no culture 
should be forced to conform to the standards or values of another. The book was 
translated into 14 languages and became a standard anthropology text for many 
years to come. More controversy surrounded the publication of her 1940 book 
Race: Science and Politics, which took a strong activist tone against racism and 
was criticized by a politician of the U.S. South. During World War II, she worked 
for the Office of War Information studying cultures in Japan, Thailand, and New 
Guinea. This was a new departure for anthropologists, that of analyzing complex 
modern societies for purposes of politics and national intelligence. This work cul- 
minated in her book The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese 



226 | Benerito, Ruth Rogan 

Culture (1946), a contribution to understanding America's enemy during the war 
without relying upon stereotypes and racism. The book brought her such renown 
that in 1947, the Office of Naval Research gave her a large grant to establish and 
direct a research program on Contemporary Cultures at Columbia, where she 
was promoted to full professor in what proved to be the last year of her life. 

Benedict was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, president of the 
American Ethnological Society (1927-1929), vice president of the American 
Psychopathological Association, and president of the American Anthropological 
Association (1947); she resigned the latter position due to sexism within the Asso- 
ciation at that time. She also served as editor of the Journal of American Folk-Lore 
from 1923 to 1940. Benedict has been the subject of several biographies, begin- 
ning with that written by her friend and colleague, Margaret Mead, who published 
Ruth Benedict: A Humanist in Anthropology in 1974. 

Further Resources 

Banner, Lois W. 2003. Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Their 
Circle. New York: Random House. 

Lavender, Catherine J. 2006. Scientists and Storytellers: Feminist Anthropologists and the 
Construction of the American Southwest. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 



Benerito, Ruth Rogan 

b. 1916 
Polymer Chemist 

Education: B.S., Sophie Newcomb College, 1935; M.S., Tulane University, 1938; 
Ph.D., chemistry, University of Chicago, 1948 

Professional Experience: instructor, chemistry, Randolph-Macon Women's 
College, Virginia, 1940-1943; assistant professor, Tulane University, New Orleans, 
Louisiana, 1943-1953; physical chemist, Southern Regional Research Center, 
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 1953-1958, head of colloidal chemistry 
investigation, 1958-1961, head of physical chemistry group, 1961-1986 

Concurrent Positions: adjunct professor, chemistry, University of New Orleans; 
adjunct and emerita professor, Tulane University 

Ruth Benerito holds more than 50 patents and is most well-known for her work in the 
development of the "wash-and-wear" or "permanent press" process for fabrics. Her 
research was important both in terms of scientific breakthroughs and implications 



Benerito, Ruth Rogan | 227 



for commerce and industry. The 
advent of polyester and other synthetic 
fabrics threatened the future of cotton 
textiles, but Benerito's work led to 
technologies for creating wrinkle-free, 
stain-free, and even flame-retardant 
cotton fabrics. She developed a process 
for soaking cotton in sodium plumbite 
and heating it to create a slick, clean, 
"glassy" surface. Her research had an 
impact not only on the textile industry, 
but on new wood and paper products 
as well. 

Benerito was a scholar at Bryn 
Mawr College from 1935 to 1936 and 
taught at Randolph-Macon Women's 
College for several years after receiv- 
ing her master's degree from Tulane 
University. She moved to Tulane Uni- 
versity, where she remained for several 
years after receiving her doctorate in 
1948. She was a scholar at the Univer- 
sity of Chicago from 1946 to 1947. In 
1953, she joined the USDA, and in 

1958 became head of the Cotton Chemical Reactions Laboratory. She then spent 
more than 30 years at the USDA Southern Regional Research Center in New 
Orleans, which specializes in the study of cotton and synthetic fabrics due to the 
textile industry in that region. Benerito had a long career with the USDA as head 
of several divisions at New Orleans until her retirement in 1986, after which she 
continued to work as an adjunct professor. 

Benerito was twice honored with the USDA's highest award for Distinguished 
Service (1964 and 1970), and has received numerous other awards for her work, 
including the Federal Woman Award (1968), Southern Chemist Award (1968), the 
Garvan Medal (1970), and the Southwest Regional Award of the American Chemical 
Society (1972). In 2002, she received the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement 
Award, and in 2004 was inducted into the USDA's Research Agency's Hall of Fame. 
She received an honorary degree from Tulane in 1981. She has been a member of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical 
Society, and the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists. 




Chemist Ruth Benerito developed a 
"permanent press" technology for fabrics. 
(AP/Wide World Photos) 



228 | Benesch, Ruth Erica (Leroi) 



Further Resources 



'Ruth Rogan Benerito." 2000. MIT Inventor of the Week Archive, http://web.mit.edu/ 
invent/iow/benerito.html. 



Benesch, Ruth Erica (Leroi) 

1925 2000 
Biochemist 

Education: B.S., University of London, 1946; Ph.D., biochemistry, Northwestern 
University, 1951 

Professional Experience: demonstrator, chemistry, University of Reading, 
1945-1947; research associate, chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, 1947-1948; 
fellow, University of Iowa, 1952, Enzyme Institute, University of Wisconsin, 
1955; independent investigator, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 
Oceanographic Institution, 1956-1960; research associate, College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, Columbia University, 1960-1964, assistant professor to professor, 
biochemistry and molecular biophysics, 1964-1995, emeritus professor 

Ruth Benesch was a collaborator with her husband, Reinhold Benesch, in their 
research on oxygen transport and other aspects of hemoglobin chemistry. The cou- 
ple met in London, where Ruth (born in Paris) and her family were in hiding 
during World War II. She entered the University of London, married Reinhold in 
1946, and moved with him to the United States, where both became citizens and 
received doctorates from Northwestern University. For 40 years, the Benesches 
conducted research and developed analytical and synthetic methods that allowed 
the introduction of the thiol groups and an accurate determination of their number 
in proteins. All but 13 of their 125 published papers dealt with hemoglobin, with 
special emphasis on its oxygen-carrying capacity. Nearly all the oxygen needed 
by cells is transported by hemoglobin, and although the normal pressure of oxygen 
in the lungs ensures complete saturation, or loading, of the hemoglobin, unloading 
depends not only on oxygen pressure and hemoglobin saturation but also on the 
oxygen affinity of the hemoglobin. If carbon dioxide accumulates, the affinity 
decreases and more oxygen is released. 

In 1967, the Benesches established that D-2,3-diphosphoglycerate is the third 
substance necessary for the proper functioning of the oxygen-hemoglobin system. 
They determined both the site at which diphosphoglycerate and related com- 
pounds bind to the protein and the nature of those bonds, and their discoveries 
resulted in a dramatic change in the way such systems are viewed and studied. 



Benmark, Leslie Ann (Freeman) | 229 

They subsequently researched the cause of sickle-shaped cells in the deadly blood 
disease sickle-cell anemia. Although other scientists had used x-ray diffraction to 
study the disease with limited success, the Benesches used electron micron micro- 
scopic studies, resulting in significant insights into the formation of sickle cells. 
Reinhold Benesch died in 1986, and Ruth Benesch remained an active researcher 
on sickle-cell anemia until her retirement in 1995. 

Ruth Benesch was a member of the American Chemical Society, the American 
Society of Biological Chemists, the Biophysical Society, and the American Society 
of Hematology. 



Benmark, Leslie Ann (Freeman) 

b. 1944 

Industrial Engineer 

Education: B.S., University of Tennessee, 1967, M.S., 1970; Ph.D., information 
systems, Vanderbilt University, 1976; J.D., University of Delaware, 1984 

Professional Experience: systems analyst, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, 1967- 
1968; systems analyst, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, 1968-1970, 
systems analysis supervisor, 1970-1975, design supervisor, 1975-1976, planning 
and industrial engineering supervisor, 1976-1979, business analysis manager, 
1979-1987, business strategy manager, 1987-1990, management systems consul- 
tant, 1990-1993, global planning manager for integrated processes and systems, 
1993- 

Concurrent Positions: instructor, computer science, University of Tennessee, 
1973-1975; assistant to dean of engineering and director of women engineers pro- 
gram, Vanderbilt University, 1975-1979 

Leslie Benmark is known nationally and internationally for her work on the 
accrediting boards for engineering curricula. Since 1993, she has been the global 
planning manager for integrated processes and systems for the international Du 
Pont Company, work that involves long-range strategic planning for global 
systems. Not all scientists and engineers who work for industrial concerns are 
engaged in research, as the corporations need people with scientific and technical 
expertise to work in the entire range of corporate operations. Benmark has always 
been involved in industrial systems, and she acquired a law degree when she was a 
business manager for Du Pont. 

She has been a member of the accrediting boards for engineering curricula for 
a number of years, and she works with similar boards in several countries. 



230 | Bennett, Joan Wennstrom 

For example, she is a fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers of Ireland. She is 
also a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers, the organization 
that prescribes the curricula for granting professional engineering licenses in the 
United States. Graduating from an accredited engineering school does not auto- 
matically make a person a professional engineer. The person must pass additional 
coursework and have a specified number of years of experience. In addition to 
working on the national and international levels, Benmark serves on advisory 
boards for engineering programs such as those at the Georgia Institute of Technol- 
ogy, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and West Virginia University. She is par- 
ticularly interested in working with curricula for women engineers. She is also the 
former chair of the Total Quality Engineering Committee of the Union of Pan- 
American Associations of Engineering. 

Benmark was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering in 
1993. Among her numerous committee appointments, Benmark has been a member 
of the Board of Directors of Manufacturing Studies of the National Research Council 
since 1993, and is a fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and a member of 
the American Society for Engineering Education. She has been a member of the 
Industrial Engineering Advisory Board of Oakridge National Laboratory and served 
as the first female president of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Tech- 
nology (ABET) (1990-1991). In 1994, she was the recipient of the Linton E. Grinter 
Distinguished Service Award from ABET. 



Bennett, Joan Wennstrom 

b. 1942 

Plant Geneticist 

Education: B.S., biology and history, Upsala College, New Jersey, 1963; M.S., 
botany, University of Chicago, 1964, Ph.D., botany, 1967 

Professional Experience: National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, 
Department of Biology, University of Chicago, 1967-1968; National Research 
Council Postdoctoral Fellow, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Southern Regional 
Research Laboratory, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1968-1970; National Science 
Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, and assistant professor, biology, Tulane Univer- 
sity, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1971-1976, associate professor, biology, 1976- 
1981, professor, 1981-1990, professor, cell and molecular biology, 1990-2006; 
professor, plant biology and pathology, and Associate Vice President for Promotion 
of Women in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics, Rutgers University, 2006- 



Berenbaum, May Roberta | 23 I 

Concurrent Positions: adjunct professor, pathology, Tulane University School of 
Medicine, 1982-; visiting scientist, plant molecular biology, Leiden University, 
Netherlands, 1991-1992; adjunct professor, ecology and evolutionary biology, 
Tulane University, 1993-; visiting professor, pharmacology, Robert Wood Johnson 
Medical School, New Jersey, 1998-1999 

Joan Bennett is a plant biologist who specializes in fungal genetics, biodegradation 
and biotechnology, and mycology and mycotoxins, the health and environmental 
hazards of various molds. She has written or edited numerous books and hundreds 
of research papers and reviews on the biology and genetics of fungi and molds 
(mycology), and has taught courses in bioethics and in plant and human genetics 
and reproduction. Bennett taught biology at Tulane University in New Orleans for 
35 years before moving to Rutgers University in New Jersey as professor of plant 
pathology and an administrative post as Associate Vice President for Promotion of 
Women in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics in all levels at the university. 

Bennett was elected a member of the National Academy of Science in 2005. 
She holds honorary doctorates from Bethany College and from her alma mater, 
Upsala College. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science and an honorary member of the Czech Society for Microbiology. She is 
a member of the American Society for Microbiology (president, 1990), British 
Mycological Society (vice president, 1988), Louisiana Academy of Sciences, 
Mycological Society of America, Society for General Microbiology, Society for 
Industrial Microbiology (president, 2001), and Torrey Botanical Club. 

Further Resources 

Rutgers University. Faculty website, http://www.cook.rutgers.edu/~plantbiopath/faculty/ 
bennett/bennett.html. 

Office for the Promotion of Women in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics. Rutgers 
University, http://sciencewomen.rutgers.edu/. 



Berenbaum, May Roberta 

b. 1953 
Entomologist 

Education: B.S., Yale University, 1975; Ph.D., ecology and evolutionary biology, 
Cornell University, 1980 

Professional Experience: assistant to associate professor, entomology, University of 
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1980-1990; professor, entomology and plant biology, 
1990- 



232 | Berenbaum, May Roberta 




Entomologist May Berenbaum researches unexplained reductions in the honey bee 
population. (Ralf-Finn Hestoft/Corbis) 



Concurrent Positions: affiliate, Center for Economic Entomology, Illinois Natural 
History Survey, 1990- 

May Berenbaum is an entomologist who specializes in chemical aspects of insect- 
plant interaction, phototoxicity of plant products, and host-plant resistance, and in 
2006 began leading a project in sequencing the "honey bee genome." Berenbaum 
has been researching and informing the public on unexplained reductions in the 
honey bee population, pointing out the critical importance of bees not only for 
supplies of honey and wax, but for pollination of other plants, flowers, and human 
food crops. She points out that humans take the contributions of bees for granted 



Berenbaum, May Roberta | 233 

and that the loss of significant numbers of bees could have a devastating economic 
effect. Theories explaining the disappearance of bees have ranged from parasites 
to disease to pesticide exposure, but no dead bees have been found to explain the 
cause. Berenbaum's research could reveal whether bees have a genetic disorder 
or dysfunction causing them to misnavigate or lose their way to hives. 

Berenbaum had a childhood fear of insects that she finally overcame after tak- 
ing an introductory course in entomology while a freshman at Yale University. 
She then decided to make them part of her life's work and specialized in insect 
ecology and evolutionary biology. As part of her efforts to improve the image of 
insects among the public, Berenbaum hosts an annual Insect Fear Film Festival. 
While she pointed out in her book Bugs in the System: Insects and Their Impact 
on Human Affairs (1995) that creatures such as lice, mosquitoes, and fleas have 
caused more deaths than bombs or bullets in human wars, she also shows how 
humans are dependent on insects for at least a third of the food grown in the world, 
and for other products such as varnishes and dyes. Other books that Berenbaum 
has written for the general public are Ninety-Nine Gnats, Nits, and Nibblers 
(1989) and Ninety-Nine More Maggots, Mites, and Munchers (1993). 

Berenbaum is also concerned with education about career possibilities in the 
field of entomology, pointing out the multidisciplinary nature of the work of soil 
scientists, plant pathologists, agricultural economists, microbiologists, animal sci- 
entists, and epidemiologists, to name a few. She has received numerous scholarly 
awards and honors, among them the National Science Foundation's Presidential 
Young Investigator Award (1984), the Founder's Memorial Award of the Entomo- 
logical Society of America (1994), the E. O. Wilson Naturalist Award from the 
American Society of Naturalists (1999), the Silverstein-Simeone Award of the 
International Society for Chemical Ecology (2000), the Weizmann Institute 
Women and Science Award (2004), and the MacArthur Award of the Ecological 
Society of America (2005). She was elected to membership in the National Acad- 
emy of Sciences in 1994 and named as Associate of the National Academies and 
National Research Council in 2001. She is a fellow of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 
American Philosophical Society, and Entomological Society of America, and a 
member of the American Genetics Association, Ecological Society of America, 
and International Society of Chemical Ecology. 

Further Resources 

University of Illinois. Faculty website, http://www.life.uiuc.edu/entomology/faculty/ 
berenbaum.html. 

Berenbaum, May R. "Losing Their Buzz." New York Times. Opinion section. 
(2 March 2007). http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/opinion/02berenbaum.html. 



234 | Berezin, Evelyn 
Berezin, Evelyn 



b. 1925 

Computer Scientist, Physicist 

Education: B.S., physics, New York University (NYU), 1951 

Professional Experience: design engineer, Electronic Computer Corporation and 
Underwood Corporation, 1951-1957; logic designer, Teleregister Corporation, 
1957-1960; manager, logic design, Digitronics Corporation, 1960-1969; founder 
and president, Redactron Corporation, 1969-1978; president, office products, Bur- 
roughs Corporation, 1978-1980; founder and president, Greenhouse Management 
Corporation, 1980-1987; consultant, 1988- 

Evelyn Berezin was a pioneer in computer hardware design with her development 
of the first office computer in the 1950s and with the first word processor to replace 
the typewriter in the 1960s. She was also an innovator in the uses of interactive 
computer programs and also helped develop the first computer data systems for 
banks and then for the first airline reservation system, which was used by United 
Airlines. She envisioned using the word processor as a tool for creating and editing 
text documents, and in 1969, she and two colleagues founded their own firm, 
Redactron, to design and manufacture a product called Data Secretary. They were 
second only to IBM in producing word processors, but were forced to sell the com- 
pany to Burroughs Corporation in 1978, who failed to market her machine for 
office use. Several other companies, notably IBM, would corner the office word- 
processing market that took off in the 1980s. 

Berezin was a business major in college until an unexpected job offer prompted 
her to switch to physics. She planned to go on for a doctorate, and held a fellowship 
from the Atomic Energy Commission while a student at NYU, but instead obtained a 
job with Electronic Computer Corporation. She designed computer systems and 
received patents on several individual components. After selling Redactron to Bur- 
roughs Corporation in 1978, Berezin became the president of that company's office 
products group. However, she left in 1979 to form her own firm again, this time a 
consultant firm for the automation industry. Later, she formed Greenhouse Manage- 
ment Corporation, a venture capital group that invested in high-technology compa- 
nies. Since 1988, she has been an independent management consultant and has 
served on the board of directors for numerous technology research organizations 
and corporations, including Sion Power Corporation and IntelliCheck, Inc. 

Berezin has received honorary doctorates from Adelphi University and Eastern 
Michigan University. She was acknowledged as an inventor with her 2006 induc- 
tion into the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame. 



Berger, Marsha J. | 235 



Further Resources 



Rostky, George. 2000. "The Word Processor: Cumbersome, but Great." EE Times, http:// 
www.v2.eetimes.com/special/special issues/millennium/milestones/berezin.html. 



Berger, Marsha J. 

b. 1953 
Computer Scientist 

Education: B.S., mathematics, State University of New York, Binghamton- 
Harpur College, 1974; M.S., computer science, Stanford University, 1978, Ph.D., 
computer science, 1982 

Professional Experience: programmer, Energy and Environmental Systems 
Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 1974-1976; consultant and program 
librarian, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and Stanford Center for 
Information Processing (SCIP), and teaching and research assistant, computer 
science, 1976-1982; postdoctoral fellow, Courant Institute of Mathematical 
Sciences, New York University, 1982-1984, associate to assistant professor, com- 
puter science, 1985-1993, deputy director, Courant Institute, 1997-2003 and fall 
2005, professor, 1993- 

Concurrent Positions: research assistant, Mathematics Division, IBM T. J. Watson 
Research Center, 1978; research assistant, Computation Group, Lawrence Livermore 
National Laboratory, 1979; scientist in residence and consultant, Institute for Com- 
puter Applications in Science and Engineering (ICASE), NASA Langley Research 
Center, summers, 1983, 1984, 1985; visiting scientist, NASA Ames Research Center, 
1991-1992, 2003-2005, summers, 1993- 

Marsha J. Berger is a computer scientist whose research interests include compu- 
tational fluid dynamics, numerical analysis, and high-performance parallel com- 
puting, specifically developing software and engineering applications for the 
aircraft and spacecraft industries. After receiving her bachelor's degree in math- 
ematics, she worked as a scientific programmer for Argonne National Laboratory, 
where she developed models for the Energy and Environmental Systems Division. 
She pursued graduate study at Stanford University and was affiliated with the 
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. After receiving her Ph.D. in computer science 
from Stanford in 1982, she joined the faculty of the Courant Institute of Math- 
ematical Sciences at New York University, where she has taught for more than 
20 years. She has also served as deputy director of the Courant Institute. 



236 | Berkowitz, Joan B. 

Berger was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2000 and the 
National Academy of Engineering in 2005. She has also received the Presidential 
Young Investigator Award of the National Science Foundation (NSF) (1988), a 
Faculty Award for Women from the NSF (1991), the NASA Software of the Year 
Award for Cart3D (2002), and the Sidney Fernbach Award of the IEEE (2004). 
She is a member of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, American 
Mathematical Society, Association for Women in Mathematics, and American 
Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. 

Further Resources 

New York University. Faculty website. http://as.nyu.edu/object/MarshaBerger.html. 



Berkowitz, Joan B. 



b. 1931 

Physical Chemist 

Education: B.A., Swarthmore College, 1952; Ph.D., physical chemistry, Univer- 
sity of Illinois, 1955; certificate, Senior Executive Program, Sloan School, 1977 

Professional Experience: National Science Foundation fellow, Yale University, 
1955-1957; physical chemist, Arthur D. Little, Inc., 1957-1980, vice president 
and section head of Environmental Business World Wide, 1980-1986; chief exec- 
utive officer (CEO), Risk Science International, 1986-1989; founder and manag- 
ing director, Farkas, Berkowitz & Company, Inc., 1989— 

Concurrent Positions: adjunct professor, physical chemistry, Boston University, 
1965-1970; adjunct professor, University of Maryland 

Joan Berkowitz is internationally known as an authority on environmental hazards. 
After receiving her undergraduate degree from Swarthmore, she wanted to study 
physical chemistry at Princeton University; however, the Princeton Chemistry 
Department would not accept women graduate students, so she completed her 
graduate studies at the University of Illinois in three years and then held a National 
Science Foundation fellowship at Yale University. She accepted a position as a 
physical chemist at Arthur D. Little, Inc., an international management and tech- 
nology consulting firm, while her husband, Arthur Mattuck, joined the mathemat- 
ics faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

At Little, Berkowitz was very successful with high-temperature oxidation stud- 
ies, which led to opportunities for projects in hazardous waste disposal. After she 



Bertell, Rosalie | 237 

had worked for about 20 years, the company funded her participation in the Senior 
Executive Program of the Sloan School. In 1980, she became a vice president of 
Little and was further promoted to head the section Environmental Business World 
Wide. In 1986, she became the CEO of Risk Science International, a consulting 
firm in Washington, D.C. In 1989, she teamed with Allen Farkas to form Farkas, 
Berkowitz and Company to consult on waste treatment and disposal, remediation 
technologies, and market potential assessment. She headed a team that produced 
a multivolume catalog of all possible manufactured products with any potential to 
cause pollution problems. She also investigated the problem of "scrubbing," a tech- 
nique in which sulfur dioxide is removed from the air to improve air quality. 

Her research programs in electrochemistry, high-temperature chemistry, solar 
energy, and environmental science are all areas of interest to the space program. 
She developed a major research program in high-temperature oxidation of transi- 
tion metals that showed that molybdenum disilicide had the greatest oxidation 
resistance at all temperatures and was also the most corrosion-resistant. The plat- 
ing techniques using molybdenum disilicide that the National Aeronautics and 
Space Administration (NASA) developed were used in industry also. Other related 
projects involved mechanisms of oxidation reactions in gas streams, studies of 
radiation shields, and the use of electrical fields to retard high-temperature oxida- 
tion of metals and alloys. 

Berkowitz was the first woman president of the Electrochemical Society 
(1979-1980), and she is also a member of the American Chemical Society and 
the American Physical Society. She received the Achievement Award of the Society 
of Women Engineers (1983) for her pioneering contributions in the field of hazard- 
ous waste management. 

Further Resources 

"Farkas Berkowitz & Company: Catalyst for Change." http://www.farkasberkowitz.com/. 



Bertell, Rosalie 

b. 1929 
Biomathematics 

Education: B.A., mathematics, D'Youville College, 1951; M.A., mathematics, 
Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C, 1959, Ph.D., biometrics, 1966 

Professional Experience: assistant, mathematics, Catholic University, 1957-1958; 
associate professor, mathematics, Sacred Heart Junior College, Pennsylvania, 
1958-1968; coordinator of high school math teachers, D'Youville Academy, 



238 | Bertell, Rosalie 

Atlanta, Georgia, 1968-1969, coordinator and associate professor, mathematics, 
D'Youville College, 1969-1972; visiting professor, State University of New York, 
Buffalo, 1972-73, assistant research professor, 1974-1978; director and research 
consultant, Ministry of Concern for Public Health, New York, 1978-1980; Energy 
and Public Health specialist, Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice, Toronto, 
Ontario, Canada, 1980-1984; faculty, Ovum Pacis: The Women's Peace University, 
USA and Canada, 1994-; founder and president, International Institute of Concern 
for Public Health, 1987-2001 

Concurrent Positions: senior research scientist, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, 
1970-1978; cancer research scientist and consultant, 1975-1980 

Rosalie Bertell has studied and been an activist raising awareness about the hazards 
of low-level radiation of nuclear energy. Her research involves mathematical statis- 
tics, analysis, measure theory, the aging effect in humans associated with exposure 
to ionizing radiation, updating relative risk methodology for biomedical applications, 
and lifestyle and chronic diseases. She has created controversy by arguing that stan- 
dard research methods on nuclear energy are aimed to convince people that low-level 
radiation is harmless. She argues, however, that there are no peaceful uses of atomic 
energy because it leads to either a quick death from atomic weapons or a slow death 
from the pollution emanated by atomic production. Radiation increases not only the 
risk of cancer, but also susceptibility to infectious diseases and risk of earlier onset of 
heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, coronary-renal disease, and other chronic health 
problems. At the time the first nuclear tests were conducted, scientists did not have 
sufficient data to anticipate what some of the results would be. However, there still 
is not a consensus on how the data should be interpreted. 

Bertell has published widely on this issue, with numerous articles, pamphlets, and 
books such as No Immediate Danger: Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth (1985), 
which was the first to discuss the dangers of low-level radiation, and Planet Earth: 
The Latest Weapon of War, A Critical Study into the Military and the Environment 
(2001). She was also editor of the journal International Perspectives in Public 
Health. She has also written on the dangers of depleted uranium, the effect of 
x-rays, the toxic waste created by military operations, and Gulf War syndrome. On 
these issues and others, she has consulted for numerous educational, government, 
and human-rights groups, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy 
Task Force of the National Council of Churches, the Citizens' Advisory Committee 
to the President's Commission on Three Mile Island, and International Medical 
Commissions to deal with nuclear accidents, such as in Chernobyl in the late 1990s. 

Bertell has been acknowledged for her scientific activism against nuclear weap- 
ons and for human rights. In 1986, she received the Right Livelihood Award "[f]or 
raising public awareness about the destruction of the biosphere and human gene 



Blackburn, Elizabeth | 239 

pool, especially by low-level radiation." In 1993, she received official recognition 
from the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and was named to 
UNEP's Global 500 Roll of Honour. Among her other awards and honors are the 
World Federalist Peace Award, a Health Innovator Award of the Ontario Premier's 
Council on Health, the Sean MacBride International Peace Prize, and selection (in 
2005) as one of 1,000 PeaceWomen nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She has 
received several honorary doctorates and is a member of the Health Physics Society, 
American Academy of Political and Social Science, American Public Health Asso- 
ciation, and International Biometric Society. She conducts her work through the 
International Institute of Concern for Public Health (IICPH), a Toronto, Canada- 
based organization she founded in 1984. She is also a founding member of the 
International Commission of Health Professionals, the International Association of 
Humanitarian Medicine, and the Commission of Health Professionals. 

Further Resources 

International Institute of Concern for Public Health, http://www.iicph.org. 



Blackburn, Elizabeth 

b. 1948 
Cell Biologist 

Education: B.Sc, biochemistry, University of Melbourne, Australia, 1970, M.Sc, 
biochemistry, 1972; Ph.D., molecular biology, University of Cambridge, England, 
1975 

Professional Experience: postdoctoral fellow, molecular and cell biology, Yale 
University, 1975-1977; postdoctoral fellow, University of California, San Francisco, 
1978; assistant professor, molecular biology, University of California, Berkeley, 
1978-1983, associate professor, 1983-1986, professor, 1986-1990; professor, 
biochemistry and biophysics, and microbiology and immunology, University of 
California, San Francisco, 1990- 

Elizabeth Blackburn is a cell biologist whose work has contributed to cancer 
research and who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with 
her former student Carol Greider and colleague Jack Szostak. Blackburn's 
research focuses on telomerase enzyme research and the molecular nature of 
telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that cover and protect genetic information. 
The role of telomerase is important for advances in cancer research since it helps 
explain how cells form, age, replicate, and mutate. Blackburn's lab studies cells 



240 | Blackburn, Elizabeth 




from a variety of organisms, including 
humans. In 2001, Blackburn was 
elected a member of the President's 
Council on Bioethics, but her support 
for stem-cell research led to her con- 
troversial removal from the council in 
2004. Her removal, and the Bush 
administration's moratorium on stem- 
cell research, prompted outrage from 
the scientific community. She serves 
on the Science Advisory Board of the 
Genetics Policy Institute. 

Born in Australia, Blackburn 
received degrees in biochemistry 
from the University of Melbourne 
and went on to earn her doctorate in 
molecular biology from the Univer- 
sity of Cambridge in England. She 
came to the United States in 1975 as 
a postdoctoral fellow at Yale and 
moved to California in 1978 to join 
the faculty at Berkeley. She moved 
to the University of California, San 
Francisco in 1990, where she is currently the Morris Herztein Professor of Biology 
and Physiology and holds joint appointments in the departments of Biochemistry 
and Biophysics and of Microbiology and Immunology, serving as department 
chair between 1993 and 1999. 

Blackburn has received honorary doctorates from several prestigious American 
universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and others. A select listing of her 
numerous other awards and honors includes the Eli Lilly Research Award for 
Microbiology and Immunology (1988), National Academy of Sciences Award in 
Molecular Biology (1990), Gairdner Foundation International Award (1998), 
Clowes Memorial Award of the American Association for Cancer Research 
(2000), Medal of Honor of the American Cancer Society (2000), AACR- 
Pezcoller Foundation International Award for Cancer Research (2001), Alfred P. 
Sloan Award of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation (2001), 
E. B. Wilson Award of the American Society for Cell Biology (2001), Albert 
Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (2006) (shared with future Nobel 
Laureate colleagues, Greider and Szostak), and L'Oreal-UNESCO Award for 
Women in Science (2008). 



Cell biologist Elizabeth Blackburn, co-recipient 
of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or 
Medicine. (© The Nobel Foundation. Photo: 
Ulla Montan) 



Bliss, Eleanor Albert | 241 

Blackburn formalized her American citizenship in 2003. She was elected a 
Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (1993) and a member of 
the Institute of Medicine (2000), and is a fellow of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Microbiology, Royal Society 
of London, Australian Academy of Science, and American Academy of Arts and 
Sciences. She is also a member of the Genetics Society of America and American 
Society for Cell Biology (president, 1998). 

Further Resources 

University of California, San Francisco. Faculty /lab website, http://biochemistry.ucsf.edu/ 
labs/blackburn/index.php?option=com content&view=article&id= 1 &Itemid=3 

"Elizabeth H. Blackburn: Interview." http://nobelprize.org/nobel prizes/medicine/ 
laureates/2009/blackburn-interview.html. 



Bliss, Eleanor Albert 



1899 1987 
Bacteriologist 

Education: A.B., Bryn Mawr College, 1921; Sc.D., Johns Hopkins University, 
1925 

Professional Experience: fellow, medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 1925-1935, 
faculty, 1936-1952; advisor, U.S. Army Chemical Corps, 1945-1952; professor, 
biology and dean of graduate school, Bryn Mawr, 1952-1966 

Concurrent Positions: board member, University of Pennsylvania, 1954-1959 

Eleanor Bliss was an authority on the use of sulfa drugs, and her discovery of 
group F streptococcus led to the first medicine to cure strep infection. Bliss and 
her colleague, Dr. Perrin H. Long, conducted animal and then human trials for 
sulfa drugs before the first human case was cured in 1936. They presented their 
work on drug chemical therapy of bacterial infections at conferences and in jour- 
nal articles before publishing their findings in a 1939 book, Clinical and Experi- 
mental Use of Sulfanilamide, Sulfapyridine and Allied Compounds. Although 
much attention was paid to the use of sulfa drugs in treating streptococcus (espe- 
cially after the president's son, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., was successfully 
cured in late 1936), in the book they outlined a wide range of illnesses and diseases 
that could be treated with the drugs, such as gonorrhea, pneumonia, kidney infec- 
tions, and streptococcal meningitis, which previously was nearly always fatal. 



242 | Blodgett, Katharine Burr 

Even though many of these drugs have since been replaced with other medica- 
tions, Bliss's findings for therapeutic uses for sulfa drugs preceded the discovery 
of penicillin by more than a decade. 

The work of Bliss and Long was supported in part by the Chemical Foundation, 
an American organization that was racing to develop new medicines and cures 
before German or other European countries. Sulfa drugs were used extensively 
for the first time during World War II to treat the wounds of soldiers. The historical 
and scientific importance of Bliss's work as a bacteriologist, which prompted a 
decades-long revolution in pharmaceutical research, is detailed in a recent book 
by John E. Lesch, The First Miracle Drugs: How the Sulfa Drugs Transformed 
Medicine (2007). 

Bliss served on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University for 16 years, taking a 
leave of absence to work with the Chemical Corps during the war years. After the 
war, she accepted an appointment as professor of biology and dean of the graduate 
school at Bryn Mawr College. She was elected a fellow of the American Academy 
of Microbiology and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 
She was a member of several professional societies, including the American Society 
of Bacteriologists and the American Association of Immunologists. 

Further Resources 

Lesch, John E. 2007. The First Miracle Drugs: How the Sulfa Drugs Transformed Medicine. 
New York: Oxford University Press. 



Blodgett, Katharine Burr 

1897 1979 
Physicist 

Education: A.B., Bryn Mawr College, 1917; S.M., University of Chicago, 1918; 
Ph.D., physics, Cambridge University, 1926 

Professional Experience: research physicist and chemist, General Electric Com- 
pany, 1918-1924, 1926-1962 

Katharine Blodgett was a physicist most notable for her invention of nonreflecting 
glass. She developed methods for constructing and measuring the thickness of 
films, and her discovery that stacking thousands of layers of film together would 
neutralize light coming through glass was announced in 1938. Her early research 
on the ability of activated charcoal to absorb gases was important to the design 
of gas masks during World War I. Blodgett's work had applications for another 



Blodgett, Katharine Burr | 243 




Physicist Katharine B. Blodgett. (Time & Life 
Pictures/Getty Images) 



later war effort when, during World 
War II, she researched ways to de- 
ice airplane wings and developed a 
method for military weather balloons 
to measure air humidity. 

After receiving her master's 
degree, Blodgett was the first woman 
research scientist hired by General 
Electric (GE) in Schenectady, New 
York, where she worked with chemist 
Irving Langmuir. Until she received 
her Ph.D., she did not always receive 
credit on papers she co-authored with 
Langmuir, who received the Nobel 
Prize for Chemistry in 1932. Lang- 
muir did, however, thank her in his 
writings for "carrying out most of 
the experimental work." Through 
Langmuir's influence, she was encour- 
aged to pursue a doctorate and was 

able to obtain a position at Cavendish Laboratory, which resulted in her being 
the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge. 

After she completed her doctorate, she returned to GE to work with Langmuir 
on problems with tungsten filaments in lamps and efforts to improve one of GE's 
main products, light bulbs. Langmuir and Blodgett collaborated in developing a 
process of building up film layers for use in nonreflective glass and optical coat- 
ings not only for eyeglasses, but also for camera lenses, televisions, and computer 
monitors. Their discovery, which became known as Langmuir-Blodgett films, 
attracted attention outside of scientific circles because of the possible consumer 
applications and was reported in popular magazines such as Time, Look, and Life. 
Although Blodgett received early attention for her role as a woman scientist at 
GE, by 1953, an article celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary and achievements 
of the GE laboratory did not even mention her name. 

Blodgett received recognition in the form of an Annual Achievement Award of 
the American Association of University Women (1945), a Garvan Medal of the 
American Chemical Society (1951), and the Progress Medal of the Photographic 
Society of America (1972). She also received honorary degrees from Elmira 
College (1939), Brown University (1942), Western College (1942), and Russell 
Sage College (1944). She was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society 
and was a member of the Optical Society of America. 



244 | Bonta, Marcia (Myers) 



Further Resources 



Byers, Nina and Gary A. Williams. 2006. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth- 
Century Women to Physics. New York: Cambridge University Press. 



Bonta, Marcia (Myers) 

b. 1940 
Naturalist 

Education: B.A., Bucknell University, 1962 

Professional Experience: independent naturalist and author 

Marcia Bonta is renowned as a writer on nature subjects, primarily in the state of 
Pennsylvania. She has contributed greatly to the history of nature writing with her 
books Women in the Field: America's Pioneering Women Naturalists (1991) and 
American Women Afield: Writings by Pioneering Women Naturalists (1995), studies 
of early women naturalists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when 
women scientists had fewer professional opportunities. Bonta spent much of her 
time walking and observing in the woods, and began looking for women in past 
generations who were observers of the natural world. Based on archival research 
from around the United States, she gathered together previously unavailable stories 
of these women's lives. Her first book chronicled her own family's experience of 
wilderness living, Escape to the Mountain (1980; reprinted, 2008). She has also 
written several books about her native Pennsylvania, including Outbound Journeys 
in Pennsylvania (1988; Book of the Year award from Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers 
Association), Appalachian Spring (1991), Appalachian Autumn (1994), More 
Outbound Journeys in Pennsylvania (1995), Appalachian Summer (1999), and 
Appalachian Winter (2005). She was editor of a "Series on Nature and Natural 
History" by the University of Pittsburgh Press (1990-1998). She has also published 
more than 300 articles in state and national magazines, including a long-standing 
monthly column, "Naturalist's Eye," for the Pennsylvania Game News, which she 
has written since 1993. 

Bonta considers herself a naturalist first and a writer second. She calls herself "a 
missionary for the natural world," and calls attention to the spiritual and ecological 
effects of development, inspiring people to think about nature and the outdoors as 
having more than a recreational purpose. She has been a member of the Pennsylvania 
Outdoor Writers Association and the Juniata Valley Audubon Society (vice president, 
1983-1984; president, 1984-1988). 



Boring, Alice Middleton | 245 



Further Resources 

"Marcia Bonta: Naturalist Writer." http://marciabonta.wordpress.com/. 



Boring, Alice Middleton 

1883 1955 
Zoologist 

Education: B.A., Bryn Mawr College, 1904, M.A., 1905, Ph.D., 1910 

Professional Experience: instructor, biology, Vassar College, 1907-1908; 
instructor, zoology, 1911, University of Maine, assistant professor, 1911-1913, 
associate professor, 1913-1918; assistant professor, biology, Peking Union 
Medical College, 1918-1920; professor, zoology, Wellesley College, 1920-1923; 
professor, zoology, Yenching University, 1923-1943, 1946-1950; instructor, his- 
tology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, 1943-1944; 
visiting professor, zoology, Mount Holyoke, 1945-1946; part-time professor, 
zoology, Smith College, 1951-1953 

Alice Boring was a zoologist who made significant contributions to the literature 
on the taxonomy of Chinese amphibians and reptiles, many of which at that time 
were unknown to researchers in the United States and Europe. She contributed to 
the spread of scientific knowledge by teaching Chinese students and by collecting 
data and specimens of Chinese animals. She also published several scientific 
papers in journals such as the Hong Kong Naturalist and Peking Natural History 
Bulletin. Born and educated in Pennsylvania, Boring spent a major portion of her 
career outside the United States. During her doctoral studies on insect genetics at 
Bryn Mawr, she studied at the University of Wurzburg and the Naples Zoological 
Station. She then spent about 10 years on the faculties of Vassar and the University 
of Maine, attaining the position of associate professor at the latter institution. Her 
early research involved cytology and genetics, and she seemed to be headed for a 
traditional career in academia. Between 1918 and 1950, however, Boring 
remained primarily in China, teaching biology and conducting zoological research 
at Peking Union Medical College and, later, at Peking (Yenching) University. 
During this time, she witnessed civil war, revolution, the Japanese occupation, 
World War II (involving her internment and repatriation), and the creation of a 
new socialist society in China. 

After her first two-year term in China, Boring made it her mission in life to stay 
in that country to teach. She immediately involved herself in Chinese educational 



246 | Boyd, Louise Arner 

and political causes. She was repatriated from China in 1943 after spending two 
years with British and American citizens in a concentration camp after their uni- 
versity was shut down. She held teaching posts at Columbia University's medical 
college and at Mount Holyoke, but she eagerly returned to the country she loved 
in 1946 for four additional years. She returned to the United States in 1951 when 
a family member became ill and taught briefly at Smith College. 

Further Resources 

Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey. 1991. "The 'New Look' Women and the Expansion of American 
Zoology: Nettie Maria Stevens (1861 1912) and Alice Middleton Boring (1883 
1955)." In The Expansion of American Biology, edited by Keith R. Benson et al., 
52 79. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 

Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey and Clifford J. Choquette. 1999. A Dame Full of Vim and Vigor: 
A Biography of Alice Middleton Boring, Biologist in China. Amsterdam: Harwood 
Academic Publishers. 



Boyd, Louise Arner 

1887 1972 
Geographer, Explorer 

Education: private schools 

Professional Experience: scientific explorations of polar regions 

Louise Boyd contributed to science by sponsoring and leading expeditions of scien- 
tifically trained personnel who made significant contributions to our knowledge of 
the Arctic. During World War II, she was a consultant to the U.S. War Department 
due to her experience in exploring the polar regions. Since the Danes and the Nor- 
wegians had conducted the primary polar research, her files of notes, maps, photo- 
graphs, botanical specimens, and so on were the only American sources available. 
She was a wealthy woman who first saw polar ice on a vacation with friends in 1926. 
She sponsored six additional trips to Arctic regions, primarily to east Greenland, 
where an area, Louise Boyd Land, was named after her. Although she was not a 
scientist, she provided the best equipment available to the scientists who accompa- 
nied her, and she consulted with the staff of the American Geographical Society in 
selecting both the scientists and the equipment. She trained herself to be an expert 
photographer and developed skill in collecting botanical specimens. In 1955, she 
was the first woman to fly over the North Pole, and in 1960, she became the first 
woman councilor of the American Geographical Society. 



Braun, Annette Frances | 247 

Boyd's published works included The Fiord Region of East Greenland (1935), 
which detailed the scientific results of her 1931 and 1933 trips, and The Coast of 
Northeast Greenland (1948), both published by the American Geographical Society. 
She also published Polish Countrysides (1937), which recorded her trip to Warsaw 
for the International Geographical Congress. She was a delegate to the Congress, 
representing the U.S. government and the American Geographical Society. She had 
exceptional leadership skills, which made her the only woman to achieve an 
outstanding position in Arctic exploration. She received honorary degrees in 1939 
from both the University of California and Mills College. 

Further Resources 

Olds, Elizabeth F. 1985. Women of the Four Winds: The Adventures of Four of America' s 
First Women Explorers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 



Braun, Annette Frances 

1884 1978 
Entomologist 

Education: A.B., University of Cincinnati, 1906, A.M., 1908, Ph.D., zoology, 
1911 

Professional Experience: assistant, zoology, University of Cincinnati, 1911-1916; 
private research, 1916-1978 

Annette Braun was an eminent entomologist and a leading authority on Lepidoptera, 
particularly Microlepidoptera, the order that includes butterflies and moths. She 
was the first woman granted a Ph.D. at the University of Cincinnati. After receiving 
her doctorate, she remained affiliated with the university for about five years before 
she left to engage in private research. She was considered a prominent entomol- 
ogist of her time and was elected vice president of the Entomological Society of 
America in 1926. She and her sister, Lucy Braun, who taught botany at the Univer- 
sity of Cincinnati, maintained a research garden famous for its unusual plants, and 
Annette traveled with her sister on botanical expeditions in Ohio and Kentucky. 
The Braun sisters were committed to the preservation of natural resources and local 
environments, and Annette Braun was a lifetime trustee of the Cincinnati Museum 
of Natural History, which now includes a Braun library and archives of Lucy 
Braun's manuscripts. Annette Braun's notes and an extensive collection of more 
than 5,000 slides were donated to the Smithsonian Institution, and her mounted 
collection of nearly 30,000 specimens of moths was given to the Philadelphia 
Academy of Science. 



248 | Braun, (Emma) Lucy 

Braun published numerous papers on moths for the American Entomological 
Society and other scientific journals, published four monographs and books, and 
provided detailed illustrations for her studies based on her own observations and 
use of a microscope to study insects. She continued to research and publish signifi- 
cant work well into her eighties, and died at the age of 94. 

Further Resources 

Bonta, Marcia M. 1991. Women in the Field: America's Pioneering Women Naturalists. 
College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 

Ohio State University. Obituary. https://kb.osu.edU/dspace/bitstream/1811/22633/l/ 
V079N4 189.pdf. 



Braun, (Emma) Lucy 

1889 1971 
Botanist 

Education: A.B., University of Cincinnati, 1910, A.M., geology, 1912, Ph.D., 
botany, 1914 

Professional Experience: assistant, geology, University of Cincinnati, 1910-1913, 
assistant, botany, 1914-1917, instructor, botany, 1917-1923, assistant to associate 
professor, botany, 1923-1946, professor, plant ecology, 1946-1948 

Lucy Braun was a botanist instrumental in developing the scientific discipline of 
ecology in the United States. She took early retirement from the University of 
Cincinnati only two years after achieving full professorship to devote her time 
to fieldwork, particularly in Ohio. She was often accompanied on her botanical 
field expeditions by her sister, entomologist Annette Frances Braun, work the 
sisters continued well into their eighties. In the 1920s and 1930s, Lucy Braun 
cataloged the flora of the Cincinnati area and compared it with the flora of the 
same region 100 years earlier. One of the first studies of its type in the United 
States, this provided a model for comparing changes in flora over a span of time. 
Braun's research and exhaustive cataloging of native plant life led to the preserva- 
tion of tens of thousands of acres in her native Ohio and established ecology as an 
academic discipline. Thirty years after her death, her ecological legacy is still 
honored through a summer workshop in Kentucky entitled "In the Footsteps of 
Lucy Braun," which leads participants through local forests to show the decima- 
tion caused by mining. 



Bricker, Victoria (Reifler) | 249 

Braun published hundreds of papers as well as books such as An Annotated 
Catalog of the Spermatophytes of Kentucky (1943), The Woody Plants of Ohio 
(1961; commissioned by the Ohio Academy of Science), and various studies on 
plants new to science in Ohio and Kentucky. She is best known, however, for her 
1950 book Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America, still considered an 
authoritative reference work on the subject. In it she coined the term "mixed meso- 
phytic" to describe the thick forests of the American Southeast that are made up of 
a variety of tree species, many of them ancient. In 1917, she founded the Wild- 
flower Preservation Society and served as editor of its journal, Wildftower, 
between 1928-1933. She was the first female president of both the Ohio Academy 
of Science (1933-1934) and the Ecological Society of America (1950), and was 
the first woman inducted into the Ohio Conservation Hall of Fame (1971). Among 
her awards and honors were the Mary Soper Pope Medal in botany (1952) and the 
Certificate of Merit of the Botanical Society of America (1956). 

Further Resources 

Bonta, Marcia M. 1991. Women in the Field: America's Pioneering Women Naturalists. 
College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 

Western Kentucky University. Biography, http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/chronob/ 
BRAU1889.htm. 

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. "Forests, Firsthand: Workshops Show Richness 
Eastern Kentucky Retains, What It's Lost." http://www.ohvec.org/links/news/archive/ 
2007/fair use/06 11. html. 



Bricker, Victoria (Reifler) 

b. 1940 

Anthropologist, Ethnologist 

Education: B.A., philosophy and humanities, Stanford University, 1962; M.A., 
anthropology, Harvard University, 1963, Ph.D., anthropology, 1968 

Professional Experience: visiting lecturer, anthropology, Tulane University, 
1969-1970, assistant professor to professor, anthropology, 1970- 

Concurrent Positions: book review editor, American Anthropologist, 1971-1973; 
editor, American Ethnologist, 1973-1976 

Victoria Bricker is an ethnologist and anthropologist who specializes in comparing 
the oral tradition with the written history of Mexico. Bricker was born in Hong 



250 | Brill, Yvonne (Claeys) 

Kong and moved to the United States as a young child, eventually attending both 
Stanford and Harvard Universities. Her research and publications relate to the 
Dresden Codex and the Madrid Codex, original manuscripts that describe the 
history and culture of the Mayans. The Maya developed a type of pictogram called 
glyphs in which they recorded events on buildings, monuments, and tree bark. 
When the Spaniards conquered the Maya, they melted the gold and silver orna- 
ments, and the Spanish priests destroyed many written records, although much 
writing remained on buildings and monuments, and some of the manuscripts 
written on tree bark were saved and eventually ended up in archives in Europe. 
The Dresden Codex contains astronomical calculations, and the Madrid Codex 
contains information on astrology and divination practices. One area in which 
Bricker specializes is the astronomical records maintained by the Maya on their 
calendars. 

She has published numerous papers and journal articles, as well as books, 
including The Indian Christ, the Indian King: The Historical Substrate of Maya 
Myth and Ritual (1981) and A Grammar of Mayan Hieroglyphs (1986). Since 
1977, she has served as the general editor of Supplement to Handbook of Middle 
American Indians. Bricker was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 
1991. She is a fellow of the American Philosophical Society and a member of 
the American Anthropological Association, American Society for Ethnohistory, 
Linguistic Society of America, and Societe des Americanistes. 



Brill, Yvonne (Claeys) 



b. 1924 

Aerospace Engineer, Chemist 

Education: B.Sc, University of Manitoba, 1945; M.S., University of Southern 
California, 1951 

Professional Experience: mathematician, aircraft design, Douglas Aircraft Com- 
pany, 1945-1946; research analyst, propulsion and propellants, Rand Corporation, 
1946-1949; group leader, igniters and fuels, Marquardt Corporation, 1949-1952; 
staff engineer, combustion, United Technology Corporation, 1952-1955; project 
engineer, preliminary design, Wright Aeronautical Division of Curtiss-Wright 
Corporation, 1955-1958; consultant, propulsion and propellants, FMC Corpora- 
tion, 1958-1966; manager, propulsion, RCA Astro-Electronics, 1966-1981, staff 



Brill, Yvonne (Claeys) | 251 

engineer, preliminary design, 1983-1986; manager, solid rocket motor, National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) headquarters, 1981-1983; staff 
member and space engineer, International Maritime Satellite Organization, 
1986-1991; consultant, 1991- 

Yvonne Brill has been involved in the aerospace industry both in the United States 
and England during her entire professional career, specializing in both liquid and 
solid rocket propulsion. She developed new rocket-propulsion systems for communi- 
cation satellites; the single-propellant rocket system, the hydrazine/hydrazine 
resistojet, which she developed in 1974 and for which she holds the patent, is still 
in use today. Brill was born in Canada, but after receiving her undergraduate degree 
in mathematics, she was unable to find work in Canada and began graduate studies in 
California after accepting a position at Douglas Aircraft as a mathematician assisting 
with studies of aircraft propeller noise. She received her master's degree in 195 1 and 
held positions with several U.S. companies over the course of her career, including 
researching rocket and missile designs and propellant formulas at Rand, working as 
a staff engineer with United Technology Research Laboratory to study rocket and 
ramjet engines, and developing high-energy fuels for advanced aircraft at Curtiss- 
Wright. After the birth of her children, she worked as a part-time consultant on rocket 
propellants for FMC Corporation. 

Returning to full-time work in 1966, Brill was employed at RCA Astro- 
Electronics (now GE Astro), as a senior engineer and then manager of NOVA 
propulsion. It was at RCA that she developed a hydrazine/hydrazine resistojet 
thruster, which was a monumental advance for single-propellant rockets, enabling 
satellites to change orbits in space. In 1981, she joined NASA as a director of the 
solid rocket motor program in the Office of Space Flight (shuttle program) and 
later joined INMARSAT in London as a space segment engineer until retiring in 
1991. She performed preliminary work on the Mars Observer spacecraft that was 
launched in 1992 and tracked launch vehicle performance on the Scout, Delta, 
Atlas, and Titan spacecraft. After retirement, she served as a consultant monitoring 
propulsion system activities for orbiting communication satellites. 

Brill's many awards and honors include the RCA award for Astro-Electronics 
Engineering Excellence (1970), the Resnik Challenger Medal of the Society of 
Women Engineers (1993), and the SWE Achievement Award (1986). She is a fel- 
low of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and of the Society 
of Women Engineers, is a member of the British Interplanetary Society and the 
International Astronautical Union, and was elected to the National Academy of 
Engineering in 1987 and inducted into the Women in Technology International 
(WITI) Hall of Fame in 1999. 



252 | Briscoe, Anne M. 
Briscoe, Anne M. 



b. 1918 
Biochemist 

Education: B.A., Adelphi College, 1942; A.M., Vassar College, 1945; Ph.D., 
biochemistry, Yale University, 1949 

Professional Experience: assistant chemist, University of Maine, 1942-1943; 
Vassar College, 1943-1945; physiological chemist, Yale, 1946-1947; fellow, 
University of Pennsylvania, 1949-1950; associate biochemist, medical college, 
Cornell University, 1950-1954, assistant professor, 1954-1955; research associ- 
ate, school of medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 1956; associate biochemist, 
Columbia University, 1956-1972; assistant professor of medicine, College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia, 1972-1988 

Anne Briscoe is a distinguished medical researcher and faculty member in bio- 
chemistry, with a primary emphasis on the metabolism of calcium and magnesium 
in humans. She has held positions with numerous prestigious employers, including 
the medical college of Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania School 
of Medicine, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. 
She has been active as a consultant for the Veterans Administration Hospital, 
Castle Point, New York. While her primary focus was on research, she has lectured 
in the School of General Studies of Columbia University, the School of Nursing at 
Harlem Hospital Center, and Antioch College's Physician's Assistant Program at 
Harlem Hospital Center. 

Besides her research, Briscoe has been exceptionally active as an advocate for 
women in the sciences. She was one of the founding members of the Association 
for Women in Science (AWIS) in 1971 and subsequently served as president 
(1974-1976), chair of the AWIS Affirmative Action Committee, and co-chair of 
the Committee on Equity. She has published on women, feminism, and science, 
including co-editing (with Sheila Pfafflin) a book, Expanding the Role of Women 
in the Sciences (a publication of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1979). Her 
article, "Diary of a Mad Feminist Chemist," published in the International Journal 
of Women's Studies (1981), is an account of her years as a woman scientist at Cor- 
nell and Columbia. Commenting on her role as both as scientist and a part of the 
feminist movement, she has said, "Opportunities are greater for women than when 
I received a Ph.D. in 1949, and I only regret that I was born too soon." 

Briscoe was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Chemists and a fellow 
of the New York Academy of Sciences, and served on the New York City Commis- 
sion on the Status of Women. In 1997, she received the prestigious Wilbur L. 



Britton, Elizabeth Knight | 253 

Cross Medal of the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She also has been 
a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Society for 
Clinical Nutrition. 



Britton, Elizabeth Knight 

1858 1934 
Botanist, Bryologist 

Education: Hunter College, 1875 

Professional Experience: critic teacher, Hunter College, 1875-1882, tutor, natural 
science, 1882-1885; curator of mosses, Torrey Botanical Club, 1884-1885, editor, 
Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 1886-1888; unofficial curator of mosses, 
Columbia College Herbarium, New York Botanical Garden, 1899-1912, honorary 
curator, 1912-1934 

Elizabeth Knight Britton was an early botanist and one of the founders of the New 
York Botanical Garden. She became a well-regarded amateur botanist with a special 
interest in bryology, or the study of mosses. She built a collection of mosses and ferns 
from expeditions in North America and the Caribbean. She was raised and educated 
in New York and on a family-owned sugar plantation in Cuba. Always interested in 
science, she graduated from Hunter College in 1875 and taught there for 10 years 
until her marriage in 1885 to geologist Nathaniel Britton. In collaboration with her 
husband, who also taught botany, and working through his affiliation as professor 
at Columbia College, she built a significant moss collection at Columbia. The 
Brittons did not have children and often traveled together on botanical collecting 
expeditions. After visiting the Royal Botanic Gardens in England, the couple led 
the campaign to increase public botanical awareness and knowledge through the 
creation of the New York Botanical Garden, a 250-acre garden established in the 
Bronx in 1891 with Nathaniel Britton as its first director. 

Elizabeth Britton's moss collection was eventually moved from Columbia to 
the Botanical Garden, where she was a full-time volunteer and became the honor- 
ary curator of mosses in 1912. Even though she did not hold an advanced degree, 
and did not draw a salary from either the Botanical Garden or from Columbia, she 
was regarded as an eminent botanical scientist of her day and even mentored 
graduate students in botany at Columbia. 

Britton belonged to or helped create every significant botanical club in the late 
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She was an early member of the Torrey 



254 | Brody, Jane Ellen 

Botanical Club who edited the club's Bulletin in the 1880s, and one of the founding 
(and only female) members of the Botanical Society of America in 1893. She 
co-founded the Sullivant Moss Society in 1898 (later the American Bryological 
Society), serving as president from 1916 to 1919 and also editing that group's 
journal, Bryologist. She also co-founded the Wild Flower Preservation Society of 
America in 1902, serving as secretary and treasurer for many years. She helped 
identify and preserve many species of wildflowers in the United States and auth- 
ored or co-authored more than 300 scientific papers and articles on mosses, ferns, 
and wildflowers. There are numerous plant species and one moss genus, Bryobrit- 
tonia, named in her honor. 

Further Resources 

New York Botanical Garden. "Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton Records." http:// 
sciweb.nybg.org/science2/libr/finding guide/egbweb.asp. 



Brody, Jane Ellen 

b. 1941 

Science Writer, Nutritionist 

Education: B.S., biochemistry, New York State College of Agriculture and Life 
Sciences at Cornell University, 1962; M.S., journalism, University of Wisconsin, 
Madison, 1963 

Professional Experience: reporter, Minneapolis Tribune, 1963-1965; science 
writer, New York Times, 1965-1976, health columnist, 1976-; independent author 
and lecturer, health and nutrition, 1979- 

Jane Brody is the author of numerous articles and books on health and nutrition 
written for the general public. She combined an undergraduate degree in biochem- 
istry with training as a journalist and science writer. She developed a special inter- 
est in nutrition and disease at an early age, for she lost both her mother and her 
grandmother to cancer while she was in her teens. She enrolled in the biochemistry 
curriculum at the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University and 
planned to become a research scientist. When she spent a summer in a research 
laboratory under a National Science Foundation fellowship at the New York State 
Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, New York, however, she decided lab- 
oratory research did not appeal to her as a career. In her senior year, after joining 
the staff of the Cornell Countryman, a school magazine dealing with scientific 



Brody, Jane Ellen | 255 

and agricultural research, she enrolled in a few journalism courses as electives. 
She received a science writing fellowship for a one-year graduate program in jour- 
nalism at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she received a master's 
degree in 1963. 

Brody obtained a position as a general reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune and 
worked there for two years before securing a job as a full-time science writer, special- 
izing in medicine and biology, at the New York Times. She brings a wealth of informa- 
tion to her columns, spending hours researching her subject and consulting experts in 
the field in order to present all sides of controversial subjects. In 1976, she began 
writing her "Personal Health" column for the Times. She urges her readers to adopt 
a healthy diet that features a high intake of complex carbohydrates, a moderate intake 
of proteins, and a reduction in the consumption of fat, sugar, and salt. She also 
advises some exercise daily rather than being a "weekend athlete." She warns against 
making a radical change in lifestyle. Her philosophy is one of moderation, a concept 
foreign to many Americans. She warns people that a healthy lifestyle does not mean 
one may eat a low-calorie salad and then "reward" oneself with a dessert rich in 
calories and fats. She speaks from her own experience. Although she is only five feet 
tall, in graduate school she weighed 140 pounds. She lost 40 pounds over a period of 
two years. 

Her first book to gain national attention was Jane Brody's Nutrition Book (1981), 
in which she expanded the information she had been giving in her columns. The 
companion volume, Jane Brody 's Good Food Book ( 1 985), was a bestselling collec- 
tion of her health-conscious recipes. She has also published collections of recipes for 
children and seafood recipes, and has published books on topics such as allergies and 
cancer, all of which promote healing primarily through a healthful diet. Her book 
Jane Brody's Guide to the Great Beyond (2009) deals with preparing medically and 
emotionally for end-of-life issues. She has been a television personality, including 
10 episodes of her own show, Good Health from Jane Brody's Kitchen, which ran 
on PBS in the mid-1980s. 

Brody has received honorary doctorates from Princeton University (1987) and 
Hamline University (1993). She is also the recipient of honors and awards from 
the American Heart Association (1971), a science writers' award from the American 
Dental Association (1978), and a lifetime award from the American Health Founda- 
tion (1978). 

Further Resources 

Jane Brody. http://www.janebrody.net/. 

"Jane E. Brody: Recent and Archived News Articles by Jane E. Brody." http:// 
topics. nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/b/jane e brody /index. html. 



256 | Brooks, Carolyn (Branch) 
Brooks, Carolyn (Branch) 



b. 1946 
Microbiologist 

Education: B.S., Tuskegee University, 1968, M.S., 1971; Ph.D., Ohio State 
University, 1977 

Professional Experience: science teacher, Union Springs, Alabama, 1968-1969; 
science teacher, Tuskegee, Alabama, 1971-1972; technician, Veteran's Hospital, 
Tuskegee, Alabama, 1972-1973; teaching assistant, Ohio State University, 
1975-1977; researcher and program director, community health studies, Kentucky 
State University, 1977-1981; professor, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, 
1981- 

Concurrent Positions: dean and director, School of Agricultural and Natural 
Sciences, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore 

Carolyn Brooks is a microbiologist who researches legumes in efforts to increase 
the nutritional value of such crops in developing countries. Legumes such as soy- 
beans, peas, and beans enrich the soil and require little or no fertilizer, and Brooks 
has visited several West African countries to study a legume called the groundnut 
in order to help researchers in those countries increase the food value of that plant. 
Another area of her research is the creation of crop plant species that have built-in 
resistance to insects and other predators. 

Brooks was born in Richmond, Virginia, and attended public school before full 
integration took place. Fortunately, she had teachers who realized that the changing 
social climate would bring more opportunities for educated African Americans, 
and they encouraged her to do well and to attend special summer sessions for 
science students. Brooks ultimately received offers of scholarships from six differ- 
ent colleges. She chose Tuskegee Institute, which had a strong science program, for 
both her undergraduate and master's degrees before enrolling at Ohio State for her 
doctorate. She gave birth to three children while pursuing her education. Her first 
position after graduation was at Kentucky State University in a community health 
studies program that combined the resources of the university and statewide social 
services to improve the lives of rural residents. In her work on nutritional needs of 
the elderly, she found that the subjects' hair indicated the amount of mineral intake 
in their diets, which meant that certain medical problems caused by improper diet 
could be diagnosed. 

In 1981, she moved to the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, where she 
is committed to both research and teaching and mentoring students and has served 
as Dean of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences. In 1988, she was 



Brooks, Matilda Moldenhauer | 257 

recognized for her teaching at the first annual White House Initiative on Historically 
Black Colleges and Universities, and in 1990, she received an Outstanding Educator 
Award from the Maryland Association of Higher Education. 



Brooks, Matilda Moldenhauer 



b. 1890 
Physiologist 

Education: A.B., University of Pittsburgh, 1912, M.S., 1913; Ph.D., biology, Rad- 
cliffe College, Harvard, 1920 

Professional Experience: bacteriologist, research institute, National Dental 
Association, 1917-1920; assistant biologist, U.S. Public Health Service, 1920- 
1924, associate biologist, 1924-1927; research associate in physiology, University 
of California, Berkeley, 1927-, lecturer, zoology, 1934, 1936 

Matilda Brooks was recognized for developing an antidote or treatment for cyanide 
and carbon dioxide poisoning. She accomplished this in 1932 while working 
as an unpaid research assistant at the University of California, Berkeley. After 
spending about six years with the U.S. Public Health Service, she and her husband, 
zoologist Sumner Cushing Brooks, moved to Berkeley, where she held a position 
as a research associate in physiology. Her husband held a faculty appointment at 
Berkeley (which, due to anti-nepotism rules, meant she could not be employed 
there) and, although she periodically substituted for her husband as a zoology lec- 
turer, she was one of the few early women scientists without a regular teaching 
appointment who was therefore able to devote her entire career to research. Her 
work was supported by numerous distinguished grants, such as the Bache grant 
of the National Academy of Science, the Naples research grant of the National 
Research Council, the Permanent Science Foundation grant, and the American 
Philosophical Society grant. She took early courses at, and was a member of, the 
Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, an honor that few 
women had enjoyed at that time. She and her husband regularly spent summers 
at Woods Hole conducting research. The Brooks not only researched together as 
a team, but jointly published articles and a book on The Permeability of Living 
Cells (1941). The couple also frequently lectured together, including an 
international lecture tour that took them to several South American countries 
in 1944. 



258 | Broome, Claire Veronica 

Brooks was a member of several professional societies, including the American 
Physiological Society, Society of General Physiologists, and Cooper Ornithological 
Society. Although her long-term research had involved cell respiration and oxida- 
tion, her later research interests included the effects of solar light and ultraviolet 
light on sugar production and the four basic acids. 

Further Resources 

"Sumner Cushing Brooks: Zoology: Berkeley (1888 1948)." http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/ 
view?docld=hb9p300969&doc.view=content&chunk.id=div00002&toc. depth 
= 1 &brand=calisphere&anchor.id=0. 



Broome, Claire Veronica 

b. 1949 

Epidemiologist, Physician 

Education: B.A., Harvard University, 1970; M.D., Harvard Medical School, 
1975; diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine, 1981 

Professional Experience: deputy chief in pathogens, Bacterial Disease Division, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1979-1980, chief, Bacterial Special 
Pathogens, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCID), 198 1— 
1990, acting director, 1991-1993, deputy director, 1994-1999, senior advisor, 
Integrated Health Information Systems, 2000-2006 

Concurrent Positions: clinical assistant, School of Medicine, Emory University; 
adjunct professor, Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, 
Emory University 

Claire Broome has performed significant research on bacterial disease epidemiol- 
ogy, including the public health aspects of pneumonia, meningitis, toxic shock 
syndrome, and Legionnaires' disease. Born in England, she immigrated to the 
United States with her family in 1951. After completing her education, she joined 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1979 and has remained there 
ever since. One of her significant achievements is her novel approach to estimating 
the effectiveness of a pneumococcal vaccine by comparing the distribution of ster- 
eotypes (organisms distinguished by different surface antigens) in vaccinated and 
unvaccinated persons who have had the disease. Her method has proved essential 
in defining the appropriate use of the vaccine in the United States. 

Another area of study has been the incidence of cerebrospinal meningitis 
epidemics. Meningitis is comparatively rare in the United States and other 



Brothers, Joyce Diane (Bauer) | 259 

industrialized countries (the last epidemic in the United States was in the 1940s), 
but the disease still reaches epidemic levels in underdeveloped countries. In an 
article published in Scientific American in November 1994, Broome reported that 
people living in central Africa are uniquely susceptible to repeated outbreaks of 
meningitis. The cycles of epidemics may correspond to environmental changes 
with heat and humidity, unusual patterns of immunity, or association with still 
other infectious diseases. The bacterium causing meningococcal meningitis is 
called Neisseria meningitidis, or "meningococcus." It is a very common organism 
that many people carry without being infected. 

Broome has served as an advisor for numerous national and international organ- 
izations, including the World Health Organization, Global Alliance for Vaccines 
and Immunization, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, U.S. Food and 
Drug Administration, and National Institutes of Health. She was elected to the 
Institute of Medicine (1996) and is a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of 
America and a member of the American Epidemiology Society, American College 
of Physicians, American Society for Microbiology, and American College of 
Epidemiology. 



Brothers, Joyce Diane (Bauer) 

b. 1929 
Psychologist 

Education: B.S., psychology, Cornell University, 1947; M.A., Columbia University, 
1950, Ph.D., psychology, 1953 

Professional Experience: teaching fellow, Hunter College, 1948-1950, instruc- 
tor, 1950-1952, research fellow, 1952-1953; independent psychologist and writer, 
1952-; television and radio personality, 1958-; columnist, Good Housekeeping, 
1963- 

Joyce Diane Brothers is a psychologist who has been a popular writer, as well as 
television and radio personality, and who pioneered the idea of phone-in advice 
on emotional and relationship issues. She first conducted her own local New York 
radio show in 1958, and was subsequently offered an afternoon talk show on NBC 
television. She became an instant celebrity through The Dr. Joyce Brothers Show 
and other syndicated programs that aired over the next two decades. She took live 
phone calls and responded to letters from viewers, pioneering the idea of short- 
term counseling and advice on oftentimes controversial issues related to sex, mar- 
riage, and parenting. She went on to write a syndicated advice column that ran in 



260 | Brothers, Joyce Diane (Bauer) 




more than 300 newspapers and has 
written a monthly column family life 
in Good Housekeeping magazine for 
more than 40 years. She has also writ- 
ten numerous books and made guest 
appearances playing herself, a well- 
recognizable and honest psychologi- 
cal expert, in television comedies, 
dramas, talk shows, and feature films. 
Brothers's television career began 
on a somewhat unusual path — as a 
game show contestant. After receiving 
her doctorate from Columbia Univer- 
sity in 1953, Brothers put her teaching 
and counseling career on hold to stay 
home with her young daughter. Her 
husband was still in medical school at 
the time and, hoping to win some extra 
money, Brothers studied for an appear- 
ance on a television quiz show, The 
$64,000 Question, in 1955. She won 
the top prize and went on to the next 
level in The $64,000 Challenge in 1957, winning again. In addition to the much- 
needed money, Brothers gained the attention of broadcast executives as a personable, 
energetic, and intelligent contestant, and was offered other television appearances, 
including an early stint as a co-host of a sports show. Her radio show soon followed, 
and then a national television show. Critics within the psychiatric profession 
charged that she could not provide real therapy or treat mental illness in the radio 
and television formats, but Brothers countered that she provided practical 
solutions to common problems and, when necessary, advised callers to seek addi- 
tional help from mental-health professionals. 

Many of Brothers's books have been bestsellers, and her works have been trans- 
lated into more than 20 languages. Her books include: The Brothers System for 
Liberated Love and Marriage (1975), How to Get Whatever You Want Out of Life 
(1978), What Women Should Know about Men (1982), What Every Woman Ought 
to Know about Love and Marriage (1988), The Successful Woman: How You Can 
Have a Career, a Husband, and a Family — And Not Feel Guilty about It (1989), 
Widowed (1992, published after the death of her husband of almost 40 years), Pos- 
itive Plus: The Practical Plan to Liking Yourself Better (1994), Dr. Brothers' 
Guide to Your Emotions (1996), and Middle Childhood: Practical Tips to Develop 



Psychologist Joyce Brothers hosted popular 
radio and television advice programs. (AP/ 
Wide World Photos) 



Brown, Barbara B. | 261 

Greater Peace and Cooperation for Parents of Children Ages 7-12 (1997). She has 
received honorary degrees, and her awards and honors include the Mennen Baby 
Foundation Award (1959), Newhouse Newspaper Award (1959), Woman of 
Achievement Award from the Federation of Jewish Women's Organizations 
(1964), Merit Award from Bar-Ilan University (1968), Parkinson Disease Founda- 
tion Award (1971), and numerous other acknowledgements. 



Brown, Barbara B. 

1917 1999 

Neurophysiologist, Pharmacologist 

Education: B.A., Ohio State University, 1938; Ph.D., pharmacology, University 
of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 1950 

Professional Experience: head, Division of Pharmacology, William S. Merrell 
Company, 1953-1957; research neuropharmacologist, Riker Labs, Inc., 1957-1962; 
consulting neurophysiologist, Veterans Administration Hospital, Sepulveda, 
California, 1963-1965; associate professor, pharmacology, University of California, 
Irvine, 1965-1973; chief, experimental physiology, Veterans Administration 
Hospital, Sepulveda, California, 1967- 

Concurrent Positions: pharmacologist, Center for Health Science, University of 
California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 1957-1962; lecturer, psychiatry, UCLA Medical 
School, 1973 

Barbara Brown helped create the science of biofeedback, a method of learning to 
control one's bodily functions by monitoring one's own brain waves, blood pres- 
sure, degree of muscle tension, and so forth. In the 1970s, she found that the brain 
emits at least four distinct kinds of waves, depending on its activity at the time. 
These are delta, the sleep pattern; theta, linked to creativity; beta, connected with 
mental concentration; and alpha, reflecting a relaxed state. The brain's constant 
electrical activity produces wave patterns, and these patterns can be measured 
and recorded using an electroencephalograph (EEG) attached to the scalp. Brown 
hypothesized that if people could connect physical sensations with each emission, 
they could perhaps learn to achieve the various states at will. 

Not only did she discover biofeedback, Brown made innovative applications of 
its findings to human health. She also invented two tools to make alpha waves 
more vivid and memorable to patients and research subjects — the Alpha train 
and the Alpha wave racetrack. The Alpha train records the signals that reveal brain 
or body activity by starting when the alpha waves appear in a subject and stopping 



262 | Brown, Rachel Fuller 

when they disappear. The Alpha wave racetrack consisted of a racecar set operated 
by brain waves. Two people can be wired up at once and race their cars against 
each other, competing for alpha wave control. 

After receiving her doctorate, Brown was employed as a pharmacologist with two 
corporations, William S. Merrell Company and Riker Labs, Inc. She then was 
appointed an associate professor of pharmacology at the University of California, 
Irvine for several years before securing an overlapping position as the chief physi- 
ologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Sepulveda, California. In addition 
to numerous papers, she published three books on biofeedback: New Mind, New 
Body: Bio-Feedback, New Directions for the Mind (1974), Stress and the Art of Bio- 
feedback (1977), and Supermind, the Ultimate Energy (1980). She was a founding 
member and first president (1969-1970) of the Biofeedback Research Society. 



Brown, Rachel Fuller 

1898 1980 
Biochemist 

Education: A.B., Mount Holyoke College, 1920; M.S., University of Chicago, 
1921, Ph.D., chemistry, 1933 

Professional Experience: teacher, private school, 1921-1924; assistant chemist, 
New York State Department of Health, 1926-1929, assistant biochemist, 1929-1936, 
senior biochemist, 1936-1951, associate biochemist, 1951-1964, research scientist, 
1964- 

Rachel Brown was responsible (along with her colleague Elizabeth Hazen) for 
one of the most important medical discoveries of the century: the development 
of the antibiotic fungicide, nystatin. Brown spent her entire career at the division 
of laboratories and research of the New York State Department of Health, where 
she worked with Hazen, a microbiologist, isolating antibiotics from soil organisms 
and testing their antifungal properties on mice. The two women produced two dif- 
ferent fungicides, but announced the most successful, nystatin (named for their lab 
in New York State), in the fall of 1950. In the 1920s and 1930s, doctors began 
regularly prescribing powerful new antibiotics, but many patients developed 
severe side effects, including yeast and fungus growth. Nystatin, however, killed 
the harmful fungus without attacking common or helpful bacteria. Nystatin (under 
the brand name Mycostatin) has been used to treat yeast and fungal infections in 
humans, as well as to combat mold in animal feed and even in water-damaged 
paper products and artwork. The patent on the drug earned millions in royalties, 



Brugge, Joan S. | 263 

which Brown and Hazen used to form a foundation for scholarships and research 
in the natural sciences. A portion was designated to provide advanced training 
for the staff at the state laboratory where they worked. Later, the two women dis- 
covered two other new antibiotics, phalamycin and capacidin. 

Brown originally intended to study history, but became interested in chemistry 
while attending Mount Holyoke College, where she was inspired by chemistry 
professor Emma Perry Carr. Brown went on to the University of Chicago for 
graduate work. She received her master's in 1921 but, for some reason, approval 
of her doctoral thesis and scheduling of her oral exams was initially delayed. 
Needing employment, she moved to Albany, New York, for a position with the 
State Department of Health without completing the degree. After proving herself 
and achieving some recognition as a scientist in that position, her professor at 
Chicago finally approved the thesis and she received her Ph.D. in 1933. Before 
her work leading to the development of nystatin, Brown researched bacteria 
responsible for pneumonia and helped develop a pneumonia vaccine. 

Brown and Hazen were jointly awarded the Squibb Award in Chemotherapy 
(1955), the Distinguished Service Award of the New York State Department of 
Health (1968), and the Benham Award of the Medical Mycological Society of 
the Americas (1972). They were the first women awarded the Chemical Pioneer 
Award from the American Institute of Chemists (1975). In an interview toward 
the end of her life, Brown was quoted as saying that she hoped for "equal opportu- 
nities and accomplishments for all scientists regardless of sex." In 1981, a year 
after Brown's death, a joint biography of Brown and Hazen was published, The 
Fungus Fighters: Two Women Scientists and Their Discovery. In 1994, Brown 
was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, one of only a handful 
of women. 

Further Resources 

Baldwin, Richard S. 1981. The Fungus Fighters: Two Women Scientists and Their Discovery. 
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 



Brugge, Joan S. 

Cell Biologist, Cancer Researcher 

Education: B.A., biology, 1971 Northwestern University, 1971; Ph.D., virology, 
Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, 1975 

Professional Experience: postdoctoral fellow, University of Colorado Medical 
Center, 1975-1979; assistant professor, microbiology, State University of New York 



264 | Brugge, Joan S. 




Cell biologist and cancer researcher, Joan Brugge. (Courtesy of Harvard University) 



at Stony Brook, 1979-1984, associate professor, 1984-1987, professor, 1988; inves- 
tigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, microbiology, University 
of Pennsylvania, 1989-1992; scientific director, and senior vice president, Research 
and Biology, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 1992-1996, senior vice president, 
Exploratory Research, 1996-1997; professor, cell biology, Harvard Medical School, 
1997-, acting chair, Department of Cell Biology, 2003, chair, 2004- 

Joan Brugge is a cell biologist whose research focuses on the growth of cells, tis- 
sues, and tumors related to understanding breast cancer. After receiving her doc- 
torate in virology from Baylor College of Medicine in 1975, Brugge held 
postdoctoral fellowships from the National Institutes of Health and the American 
Cancer Society to study at the University of Colorado Medical Center, where she 
isolated proteins in viral and cellular oncogenes and investigated normal cellular 
growth as well as tumor formations. She went on to teach microbiology and cell 
biology at State University of New York and at the University of Pennsylvania, 
but she left academia in 1992 to found ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, a drug develop- 
ment company researching new treatments for cancer and other diseases caused 
by cellular malformation, such as cystic fibrosis, asthma, and some allergies. She 
returned to teaching as professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School in 
1997 and became chair of that department in 2004. 



Buck, Linda B. | 265 

Brugge has been an invited lecturer at numerous universities, conferences, and 
organizations, and has served as an advisor, consultant, or board member for pharma- 
ceutical companies and research institutes, including the Howard Hughes Medical 
Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology Cancer Center, National Cancer Institute, Fox Chase Cancer Center, 
Van Andel Cancer Institute, and advisory committees and review panels for the 
National Institutes of Health and National Academies of Science. In 2009, she 
received a grant through the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for her continued 
work on cellular formation, migration, and abnormalities resulting in tumors. 

Brugge was elected to both the National Academy of Science and the Institute 
of Medicine in 2001, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- 
ences. She has received numerous awards and honors, including a National Cancer 
Institute Merit Award, American Cancer Society Research Professorship (2001), 
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Foundation Award (2001), Senior Career Recognition 
Award from the American Society of Cell Biology (2001), Distinguished Alumnus 
Award from the Baylor College of Medicine (2003), National Cancer Institute 
Rosalind Franklin Award (2005), and Charlotte Friend Award of the American 
Association for Cancer Research (2005). 

Further Resources 

Harvard Medical School. Faculty website, http://brugge.med.harvard.edu/. 



Buck, Linda B. 

b. 1947 
Biologist 

Education: B.S., psychology and microbiology, University of Washington, 
Seattle, 1975; Ph.D. immunology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical 
Center, 1980 

Professional Experience: postdoctoral fellow, neurobiology and molecular biology, 
Columbia University, New York, 1980-1984; associate, Howard Hughes Medical 
Institute, 1984-1991; assistant professor, neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, 
1991-1996; associate professor, 1996-2001, professor, 2001-2002; full member, 
Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and affiliate 
professor, physiology and biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, 2003- 

Concurrent Positions: assistant investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 
1994-1997, associate investigator, 1997-2000, full investigator, 2001- 



266 | Buck, Linda B. 




Linda Buck was co-recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her 
research on the sense of smell. (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Roland Morgan) 



Linda Buck is a biologist who studies the mammalian olfactory system, or sense of 
smell. She was the co-recipient (with colleague Richard Axel) of the Nobel Prize 
in Physiology or Medicine in 2004, one of only eight American women to win in 
that category to date. Buck has investigated how the nose detects an incredible 
variety of odors and pheromones and how the brain interprets and acts upon these 
messages. In the early 1990s, Buck and Axel identified and cloned 1,000 different 
genes for odorant receptors in the nose, and their research eventually revealed 
differences between different groups of these receptors for different types of tastes 
(pheromones, bitter, sweet). She has also researched how odors impact the release 
of hormones related to reproduction and sexual behaviors. Buck received her doc- 
torate in immunology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center 
in 1980 and began working with Richard Axel as a postdoctoral researcher at 
Columbia University. She went on to teach neurobiology at Harvard Medical 
School for 10 years and then returned to the University of Washington (where 
she had received her undergraduate degree) as affiliate professor of physiology 



Buikstra, Jane Ellen | 267 

and biophysics. She has also held research investigator positions at the Fred 
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes. 
Buck was elected to the National Academy of Science in 2003 and the Institutes 
of Medicine in 2006. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has been 
Director's Lecturer at the National Institutes of Health (1999) and Ulf von Euler 
Lecturer at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden (1999). Her numerous other awards 
and honors preceding her 2004 Nobel Prize included the Takasago Award for 
Research in Olfaction (1992), Unilever Science Award (1996), R. H. Wright 
Award in Olfactory Research (1996), Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished 
Work in Basic Medical Research (1997), Perl/UNC Neuroscience Prize (2003), 
and Gairdner Foundation International Award (2003). 

Further Resources 

Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Linda B. Buck, Ph.D." http://www.hhmi.org/research/ 
investigators/buck bio. html. 

University of Washington. Faculty website, http://depts.washington.edu/pbiopage/ 
people fac page.php?fac ID=5. 



Buikstra, Jane Ellen 

b. 1945 

Anthropologist, Archaeologist 

Education: B.A., DePauw University, 1967; M.A., University of Chicago, 1969, 
Ph.D., anthropology, 1972 

Professional Experience: instructor, Northwestern University, 1970-1972, assis- 
tant to associate professor, 1972-1984, professor, 1982-1986; professor, Univer- 
sity of Chicago, 1986-1995; professor, University of New Mexico, 1995-2005; 
professor, Bioarchaeology and Director, Center for Bioarchaeological Research, 
Arizona State University, 2005- 

Concurrent Positions: associate editor, American Journal of Physical Anthropol- 
ogy, 1978-1981; research associate, Field Museum of Natural History, 1981—; 
research associate, Museum of the American Indian, 1983-1986; resident scholar, 
School of American Research, 1984-1985; adjunct professor of anthropology, 
Washington University, 1986-; research associate, University of Florida, 1991— 
1997; research associate, University of Chicago, 1995-present; research associate 




268 | Buikstra, Jane Ellen 

in anthropology, Field Museum of 
Natural History, 2003-2008; research 
associate, National Museum of Natu- 
ral History, 2005-2009 

Jane Buikstra is renowned for her 
research on prehistoric skeletal popu- 
lations of the Americas, which empha- 
sizes microevolutionary change and 
biological response to environmental 
stress. She is considered one of the 
founders of bioarchaeology, or the 
application of biological anthropologi- 
cal methods such as studying vital 
rates, population distribution, genetics, 
disease, and population density to 
the archaeological records of extinct 
human groups. This is a composite field 
involving forensic anthropology, physi- 
Anthropologist and archaeologist, Jane cal anthropology, archaeology, and 

Buikstra. (Courtesy of the University of demography. Buikstra has conducted 

Arizona) research at mounds and other historical 

sites throughout North America, South 
America, and various Mediterranean countries, and has contributed archaeological 
evidence to studies of the spread of populations and of human diseases. 

Under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 
(NAGPRA), artifacts or remains that are encountered in construction projects or 
archaeological digs must be examined by trained archaeologists before a decision 
can be made regarding their disposal or other claims, and efforts must be made to 
return such items to descendants. Buikstra's work focuses on the scientific and ethi- 
cal issues involved in such work. Among her numerous articles and publications, 
she is co-editor or co-author of the following books: Human Identification: Case 
Studies in Forensic Anthropology (1984), Standards for Data Collection from 
Human Skeletal Remains (1994), The Bioarchaeology of Tuberculosis: A Global 
View on a Reemerging Disease (2003), Interacting with the Dead: Perspectives on 
Mortuary Archaeology for the New Millennium (2005), and Bioarchaeology: The 
Contextual Study of Human Remains (2006). 

Her research has been supported by grants from the National Science Founda- 
tion, National Geographic Society, and Wenner-Gren Foundation. Buikstra was 
elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences in 1987. She has been 



Bunce, Elizabeth Thompson | 269 

a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science, and the Smithsonian Institution, and a 
member of the American Anthropological Association, American Association 
for Physical Anthropologists (president, 1985-1987), American Board of Forensic 
Anthropology, and Society of Professional Archaeologists. 

Further Resources 

Arizona State University. Faculty website, http://www.asu.edu/clas/shesc/faculty/ 
buikstraj .htm?Name. 



Bunce, Elizabeth Thompson 



1915 2003 
Geophysicist 

Education: A.B., Smith College, 1937, M.A., physics, 1949 

Professional Experience: instructor, physics, Smith College, 1949-1951; 
research assistant, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1951-1964, associate 
scientist, physics and geophysics, 1964-1975, senior scientist, 1975-1980, emeritus 
scientist 

Elizabeth Bunce was the first American woman to become chief scientist of a 
major oceanographic expedition at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She 
was a geophysicist whose research interests included marine seismology and 
underwater acoustics through study of the seafloor. As chief scientist, she led 
numerous expeditions out to sea, including cruises to the Indian Ocean in 1964 
and 1971 surveying sites for scientific deep-sea drilling. In 1965, she was the first 
woman to dive in "Alvin," a deep-sea submersible vehicle. When she began her 
career, few women were engaged in oceanographic exploration at all, but Bunce 
broke those barriers by progressing from research assistant to senior scientist at 
Woods Hole and achieving many "firsts" as a woman. In addition to her research, 
she was the first woman to serve as a department chair at Woods Hole, in the 
department of Geology and Geophysics. In the early 1960s, she appeared on the 
television game show, To Tell the Truth, where contestants failed to identify her 
as the oceanographer on the panel. In 1995, she was honored at a special "Woman 
Pioneers in Oceanography" conference held at Woods Hole. 

Bunce loved sports and studied physical education in college. She worked as a 
physical education teacher in New Jersey for four years before a summer visit to 



270 | Bunting (Smith), Mary Ingraham 

Woods Hole in 1944 led to a job with the underwater explosives research group. 
Bunce's interest in science was piqued and she returned to Smith College to pursue 
graduate work in and then teach physics while working summers at Woods Hole, 
where she joined the staff full-time in 1952 and spent the remainder of her long 
career. She authored or co-authored numerous papers on marine geophysics and 
was honored in 2003, the year of her death, with the naming of the "Bunce Fault" 
located in the deepest trench of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Bunce received an honorary doctorate from Smith College in 1971. She was a 
fellow of the Geological Society of America, and a member of the Society of 
Exploration Geophysics, the American Geophysical Union, and the American 
Association of Petroleum Geologists. 

Further Resources 

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution "In Memoriam: Elizabeth T. Bunce." http://www 
.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=10934&tid=282&cid=730&ct=163. 



Bunting (Smith), Mary Ingraham 

1910 1998 
Microbiologist 

Education: A.B., Vassar College, 1931; A.M., University of Wisconsin, 1932, 
Ph.D., agricultural bacteriology, 1934 

Professional Experience: assistant agricultural bacteriologist and agricultural chem- 
ist, University of Wisconsin, 1933-1935; faculty, biology, Bennington College, 
1935-1937; instructor, physiology and hygiene, Goucher College, 1937-1938; 
research fellow, Yale University, 1938-1941; fellow, Wellesley College, 1946- 
1947; research assistant, Yale University, 1948-1952, lecturer, microbiology, 1952- 
1955; dean, Douglass College of Rutgers University, 1955-1960; president, Radcliffe 
College, 1960-1972; assistant to president, Princeton University, 1972-1975 

Concurrent Positions: commissioner, Atomic Energy Commission, 1964-1965; 
member, national science board of the National Science Foundation, 1965-1970 

Mary Bunting (Smith) was a renowned scientist as well as an influential president of 
Radcliffe College who helped integrate women into Harvard University in the 1960s. 
She had received her graduate degrees in agricultural bacteriology at the University 
of Wisconsin, Madison, and went on to teach microbiology, genetics, and physiology 
at several schools, including Bennington College, Goucher College, Yale University, 
and Wellesley. Even as she raised four children and ran the family farm after her 



Bunting (Smith), Mary Ingraham | 271 



husband's early death, she continued 
her bacteriology research part-time at 
Yale before accepting a position in 
1955 as dean of Douglass College in 
New Jersey, the women's school at 
Rutgers University. Her interest and 
experience working with female 
students led to the position in 1960 
as president of Radcliffe College in 
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bunting 
continued her scientific studies with 
a one-year leave from Radcliffe to 
consult for the U.S. Atomic Energy 
Commission. She was at Radcliffe 
for more than a decade, then held an 
administrative position at Princeton 
University for three years before retir- 
ing in 1975. 

Bunting was featured on the cover 
of Time magazine in November 1961 
because of her effort to integrate 
women into Harvard and raise the 
expectations of women for their own 
educations. Radcliffe College had 

been founded in 1879 as the women's annex at Harvard University. In 1963, under 
Bunting's tenure, Radcliffe students were the first women to receive joint degrees 
from Harvard and women were admitted for the first time to Harvard graduate 
and business schools. She helped reorganize Radcliffe as a top-notch research 
center for women scholars (including inviting part-time and married researchers) 
with the founding of the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study, later renamed 
the Bunting Institute. 

Bunting was awarded the National Institute of Social Scientists Gold Medal in 
1962, was elected to the National Science Board of the National Science Founda- 
tion, and received numerous honorary degrees. She was a member of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Society for Microbiology. She 
was known to many as "Polly" and is identified in some sources by her later name, 
Bunting-Smith. 




Microbiologist Mary Ingraham Bunting served 
as president of Radcliffe College in the 1960s 
and helped fully integrate women into Harvard 
University. (AP/Wide World Photos) 



Further Resources 

Yaffe, Elaine. 2005. Mary Ingraham Bunting: Her Two Lives. Savannah, GA: Frederic C. Beil. 



272 | Burbidge, (Eleanor) Margaret 



Harvard. Obituary. http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/01.29/MaryBunting 
-Smi.html. 

"Education: One Woman, Two Lives." Time. (3 November 1961). http://205.188.238.109/ 
time/magazine/article/0,9 1 7 1 ,897907- 1 ,00.html. 



Burbidge, (Eleanor) Margaret 



b. 1919 

Astrophysicist, Astronomer 

Education: B.Sc, University of London, 1939, Ph.D., astrophysics, 1943 

Professional Experience: acting director, University of London Observatory, 
1943-1951; research associate, astronomy, Yerkes Observatory, 1951-1953; 
research fellow, astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 1955-1957; 
Shirley Farr fellow in astronomy, Yerkes Observatory, 1957-1959; associate pro- 
fessor, University of Chicago, 1959-1962; associate research professor, University 
of California, San Diego, 1962-1964, professor, 1964-1990, director, Center for 
Astrophysics and Space Science, 1979-1988, emeritus professor, 1990- 

Concurrent Positions: director, Royal Greenwich Observatory, 1972-1973 

Margaret Burbidge is considered one of the premier woman astrophysicists of the 
twentieth century. Burbidge and her husband, Geoffrey Burbidge, are both astron- 
omers and divided their time between the United States and England for a number 
of years before becoming U.S. citizens in 1977. Margaret Burbidge was interested 
in science at an early age due to the influence of her father, a chemistry professor, 
and her mother, who had also studied chemistry. Early on, Burbidge became inter- 
ested in the origin of chemical elements and the chemical composition of stars. 
Although some astronomers thought all elements had been created when the uni- 
verse was born, the Burbidges were among those who believed that elements are 
constantly being made inside stars. In England, the couple worked with astrono- 
mer Fred Hoyle and nuclear physicist William Fowler to refine Hoyle's theory that 
elements are created by fusion reactions. They called the theory "the B2HF 
theory," based on the initials of the four participants. When the couple returned 
to the United States in 1955, Margaret had hoped to obtain a fellowship to work 
at Mt. Wilson Observatory, but only male applicants were accepted. Geoffrey 
received the fellowship, and Margaret shared his access to the observatory. In 
1959, the couple received the Warner Prize of the American Astronomical Society 
for a paper on the B2HF theory; Margaret remains, to date, the only woman to 
have received this prize for young astronomers. 



Butler, Margaret K. | 273 

Geoffrey Burbidge was offered an associate professorship at the University of 
Chicago, which operates the Yerkes Observatory, but because of anti-nepotism 
rules, Margaret was first given only a research fellowship; later, she became an 
associate professor. When she was invited to be director of the Royal Greenwich 
Observatory, her husband was offered a position there as an astronomer. The two 
were offered positions at the University of California, San Diego in 1962, where 
Margaret was appointed professor of astronomy. In the 1970s, Margaret served 
on the Space Science Board, which advises the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA) on programs in space. As director of the Center for Astro- 
physics and Space Science at San Diego, Burbidge was assigned to oversee the 
faint object spectrograph for the Hubble telescope, which was launched in 1990. 

Burbidge was the first woman to serve as director of the Royal Greenwich 
Observatory in England (1972-1973) and the first woman president of the Ameri- 
can Astronomical Society (1976-1978). She was elected to membership in the 
National Academy of Sciences in 1978. In addition to numerous papers and 
articles, the couple published one book, Quasi-stellar Objects (1967). She has 
received several honorary degrees and awards, including the Warner Prize 
(1959), the Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1982), the 
National Medal of Science (1985), and the Albert Einstein World Award of Sci- 
ence Medal (1988). She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science 
(president, 1982). She is also a member of the American Astronomical Society, 
International Astronomical Union, American Philosophical Society, and New 
York Academy of Sciences. In 2001, Margaret Burbidge received the UCSD 
Founders Distinguished Senior Scholar Award, and in 2005, the Royal Astronomical 
Society of England jointly awarded the couple its highest honor, the Gold Medal, 
for their lifetime achievements as scientists. Some sources use her first name or 
initial, as in Eleanor Margaret Burbidge or E. Margaret Burbidge; some sources 
have been found to list her name in error as Burbridge. 

Further Resources 

Byers, Nina and Gary A. Williams. 2006. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth- 
Century Women to Physics. New York: Cambridge University Press. 



Butler, Margaret K. 



b. 1924 

Mathematician, Computer Scientist 

Education: B.A., Indiana University, 1944 



274 | Butler, Margaret K. 

Professional Experience: statistician, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1945- 
1946 and U.S. Air Force in Europe, 1946-1948; mathematician, Argonne National 
Laboratory, 1948-1949; statistician, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1949-1951; 
mathematician, National Energy Software Center, Argonne National Laboratory, 
1951-1980, director, 1960-1993, senior computer scientist, 1980-1993 

Margaret Butler helped to develop one of the first digital computers for science as 
a staff mathematician at Argonne National Laboratory in the early 1950s. Butler 
had one of the earliest and one of the longest careers for a woman in computer sci- 
ences, and was involved at every stage of technological change for nearly 50 years. 
She participated in the evaluation and selection of the first commercial digital 
computer for scientific computation, and prepared and implemented programs 
for both the UNIVAC and the AVIDAC computers. In addition, she worked on 
the logical design of Argonne's GEORGE computer and designed computer pro- 
grams to solve engineering problems and to aid in the design of nuclear reactors. 
She did important early work in software as a junior mathematician in the Naval 
Reactor Division at Argonne, where she performed some of the computation work 
underlying the Nautilus submarine prototype. As head of the applications pro- 
gramming section of the Applied Mathematics Division (AMD) at Argonne, she 
directed the development of the AMD Program Library and Argonne's first com- 
puter operating system. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, she researched 
computers for image processing and reactor physics computation. As a senior 
computer scientist in the 1980s, she conducted benchmark studies for evalu- 
ating laboratory computers. She researched computing technology forecasting, 
applying computers to scientific and engineering problems, and was involved in 
preparing standards for computers and information processing. She felt one of 
her most significant contributions was in creating and directing the National 
Energy Software Center (also called the Argonne Code Center), a clearinghouse 
for the worldwide exchange of computer programs for peaceful uses of nuclear 
energy and development of world standards for computer technology. 

Butler was elected a fellow of the American Nuclear Society in 1972. She was a 
member of the Association for Computing Machinery, American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 
Association of Women in Science, and Association for Women in Computing. In 
recent years, she has been active in compiling the history of women's contribu- 
tions at Argonne. 



c 



Cady, Bertha Louise Chapman 



1873 1956 
Entomologist 

Education: A.B., 1895, Stanford University, A.M., 1902, Ph.D., entomology, 1923 

Professional Experience: high school teacher, 1900-1907; assistant in nature 
study, University of Chicago, 1907-1909; instructor, biology, California State 
Teachers College, Chico, 1918; lecturer, Stanford University, 1921-1923; natural- 
ist, National Girl Scouts, 1924-1936 

Concurrent Positions: lecturer and field secretary, Social Hygiene Association, 
1914-1924; secretary, Coordinating Council on Nature, 1928-1930 

Bertha Cady was trained as an entomologist, but her research and teaching inter- 
ests included natural history and child and adolescent psychology. She made 
contributions to science education through her long-term association with the 
nature study movement. While teaching biology at the high school level, she was 
the director of nature study for the high schools in Oakland, California. She 
became an assistant in nature study in the school of education at the University 
of Chicago and later taught in the biology department at California State Teachers 
College. She received degrees from Stanford University and also took courses at 
the University of Chicago, University of California, and Columbia University. 
She earned her doctorate from Stanford in 1923, at the late age of 50. 

Cady then obtained employment as a naturalist for the Girl Scouts, and during 
that time, she served as secretary of the Coordinating Council on Nature. Prior to 
this, she worked as lecturer and field secretary of the Social Hygiene Association. 
She published in journals of nursing and public health, and co-authored a book, 
The Way Life Begins: An Introduction to Sex Education, written with her husband, 
psychologist Vernon Mosher Cady, and published by the American Social 
Hygiene Association in 1917. This was a book for children that explained repro- 
duction in the plant, animal, and human worlds. Also during this period, as a 
member of the National Tuberculosis Association, she served as the director of 
the department of nature study for several years and was president of the American 
Nature Study Society from 1926 to 1929. She published numerous pamphlets, 



275 



276 | Caldicott, Helen Mary (Broinowski) 

teacher's guides, and books on nature study, including Animal Pets: A Study in 
Character and Nature Education (1930) and Nature Guides for Schools, Volunteer 
Organizations, Camps, and Clubs (1930). 



Caldicott, Helen Mary (Broinowski) 

b. 1938 

Pediatrician, Antinuclear activist, Environmentalist 

Education: M.B. (Bachelor of Medicine) and B.S. (Bachelor of Surgery), 
Adelaide Medical School, South Australia, 1961 

Professional Experience: intern, Royal Adelaide Hospital, South Australia, 1961; 
general medical practice, South Australia, 1963-1965; research fellow, nutrition, 
Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, 1967-1968; intern, Adelaide Children's 
Hospital, 1972, resident, 1973-1974, founder and head of cystic fibrosis clinic, 
1975-1976; fellow in cystic fibrosis, Children's Hospital Medical Center, 
1975-1976, assistant in medicine, 1977-1980; independent activist and writer, 1980- 

Concurrent Positions: fellow, nutrition, Harvard University Medical School, 
1966-1968, instructor, pediatrics, 1977-1980; president, Physicians for Social 
Responsibility, 1977-1986; founder and president, Physicians for Social Respon- 
sibility, 1978-1983, president emeritus; instructor, New School for Social 
Research, New York, 1995-1996; Laurie Chair in Women's Studies, Douglass 
College, Rutgers University, 2001 

Helen Caldicott quit her position as a physician at the Children's Hospital Medical 
Center in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1980 to devote all of her time to her campaign 
against the use of nuclear energy, including an attempt to ban the mining of 
uranium in the western part of the United States. She was a six-year-old child 
living in Australia when the atomic bomb was dropped on several cities in Japan, 
and she first became concerned about nuclear energy when, as a teenager, she read 
Nevil Shute's book On the Beach, a chilling story set in Australia about a nuclear 
holocaust. She was a practicing physician in Australia when she received a fellow- 
ship for further study at Children's Hospital in Boston and her husband, also a 
physician, received a fellowship from Harvard. On her return to Australia for fur- 
ther training in pediatrics, she worked with children who had cystic fibrosis and 
became head of the cystic fibrosis unit in 1975. 

She had a devastating experience in 1969 when she caught hepatitis from a 
patient by accidentally pricking her finger. She felt that her life had been saved 



Caldicott, Helen Mary (Broinowski) | 277 




because she was meant to make a 
commitment to human survival. She 
became incensed that the French 
government, ignoring an international 
ban, was conducting atmospheric 
nuclear tests on islands in the Pacific, 
and that the fallout was drifting 
toward South Australia. She started 
gathering reports on the amount of 
radioactive matter in drinking water 
and cow's milk and sent the reports 
to medical groups, newspapers, news 
organizations, and other sources, 
and was interviewed on radio and 
television programs. She gained so 
much public support that, in 1973, 
the Australian and New Zealand gov- 
ernments took the French government 
before the International Court of 
Justice in The Hague in an effort to 
get the French to discontinue the tests. 
The French government complied 
with the court's ruling and stopped 
the tests. 

When Caldicott and her family returned to Boston in 1975, she tried to rally the 
American public to ban all military and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. She had 
little success with her campaign, until the failure at the nuclear power plant at 
Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania created more public concern about nuclear 
energy. In 1978, she revived the flailing organization Physicians for Social 
Responsibility (originally founded in 1962), and served as president until 1983. 
She also founded Medical Campaign Against Nuclear War, Women's Action for 
Nuclear Disarmament, Standing for Truth About Radiation, Women's Party for 
Survival, and the Nuclear Policy Research Institute. She produced several docu- 
mentary films, including If You Love This Planet, which won an Academy Award 
for Best Documentary in 1982, and has published numerous books, including 
Nuclear Madness: What You Can Do (1970), Missile Envy (1986), If You Love 
This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth (1991; rev. ed., 2009), The New Nuclear 
Danger (2001), and Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer (2006). Her autobiography 
is A Desperate Passion (1996). She has received numerous honorary degrees and 
honors, and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. 



Helen Caldicott, an advocate of nuclear 
disarmament, is one of the most well-known 
activists of the late 20th century. (Greg Barrett) 



278 | Calloway, Doris (Howes) 

Further Resources 

"Helen Caldicott, MD." http://www.helencaldicott.com/about.htm. 



Calloway, Doris (Howes) 

1923 2001 
Nutritionist 

Education: B.S., Ohio State University, 1943; Ph.D., nutrition, University of 
Chicago, 1947; diplomate, American Board of Nutrition, 1951 

Professional Experience: intern in dietetics, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, 
1944; research dietitian, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois, 1945; 
consulting nutritionist, Medical Associates of Chicago, 1948-1951; nutritionist, 
QM [Quartermaster] Food and Container Institute, 1951-1958; head of metabo- 
lism laboratory, 1958-1959, chief of nutrition branch, 1959-1961; chair, Depart- 
ment of Food Science and Nutrition, Stanford Research Institute, 1961-1963; 
professor of nutrition, University of California, Berkeley, 1963-1991, provost 
and professor, 1981-1987, professor emeritus, 1991-2001 

Concurrent Positions: associate editor, Nutrition Reviews, 1962-1968; editor and 
consultant, Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, 1971 and 1981 

Doris Calloway was a renowned nutritionist with a wide range of experience 
working on areas related to food safety, food preservation, food energy, and human 
metabolism and digestion. Calloway was initially interested in studying medicine, 
but a lack of family funds and a scholarship led her to Ohio State University and a 
B.S. in nutrition and dietetics, and then to the University of Chicago for her 
doctorate in nutrition. She was employed for about 10 years by the QM Food 
and Container Institute, which was funded by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps. 
In the 1950s, the Army was concerned about the effect of nuclear radiation on 
soldiers' rations, and Calloway's research focused on trying to determine various 
foods' resistance to radiation. The Army acknowledged her with a "Man of the 
Year" award in 1959, something Calloway found quite amusing. After the Korean 
War, government research turned to space travel and, now employed by the 
Stanford Research Institute, Calloway's research on food packaging led to the cre- 
ation of freeze-dried orange juice and, ultimately, the product Tang as an astronaut 
staple. In 1963, she received an appointment as professor at the University of 
California, Berkeley, a school with an international reputation in nutrition, where 
she studied food protein requirements, specifically the role of nitrogen in the diets 



Cannon, Annie Jump | 279 

of people of different ages, health, and levels of physical activity. She served as the 
head of a multimillion-dollar study on malnutrition in Kenya, Mexico, and Egypt, 
and also served as a consultant for the United Nations Food and Agriculture 
Organization. Her methods and findings influenced the way government and 
humanitarian agencies approach the problem of malnutrition and the special 
dietary needs of pregnant and lactating women in developing areas of the world. 

Calloway served on numerous committees and panels ranging from United 
Nations groups to the National Institutes of Health and its National Institute of 
Aging and National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolic and Digestive Diseases. She 
was involved in work with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement 
Center, a renowned research facility located in Mexico City, and the National 
Research Council. She wrote Nutrition and Health (1981) and Human Ecology 
in Space Flight (1967), as well as editing 11 editions of the textbook Nutrition 
and Physical Fitness (1966-1984). She served on the editorial board of numerous 
professional journals. 

Calloway was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Nutrition (president, 
1982-1983), the International Union of Nutritional Science, the Institute of Medi- 
cine, and was a member of the Human Biology Council. She received an honorary 
doctorate from Tufts University in 1992. Her husband, Dr. Robert Nesheim, was also 
a food researcher and was employed at Quaker Oats. 

Further Resources 

King, Janet C. 2003. "Doris Howes Calloway (1923 2001)." American Society for Nutri- 
tional Sciences. Journal of Nutrition. 133:2113 2116. (July 2003). http://jn. nutrition 
.org/cgi/content/full/133/7/2113. 



Cannon, Annie Jump 

1863 1941 
Astronomer 

Education: B.S., Wellesley College, 1884, M.A., 1907; special student, Radcliffe 
College, 1895-1897 

Professional Experience: astronomer, Harvard College Observatory, 1896-1940, 
curator of astronomical photographs, 191 1-1938, William Cranch Bond Astronomer, 
Harvard University, 1938-1940 

Annie Cannon was a distinguished astronomer and probably the best-known 
woman astronomer in the first half of the twentieth century. Her specialty was 



280 | Cannon, Annie Jump 




the study of stellar spectra and, 
although she did not create the concept 
or invent the methodology for studying 
stellar spectra, she simplified and per- 
fected the system. She was one of the 
pioneers in the photographic study of 
stellar variability, and she discovered 
277 variable stars and 5 new stars. 
She produced such a huge volume of 
data that she was popularly called the 
"Census Taker of the Stars." She 
published over 90 catalogs and papers, 
and her major publications were The 
Henry Draper Catalogue (1918-1924) 
and The Henry Draper Extension 
(1925-1949). No other astronomer or 
group of astronomers has yet matched 
the sheer bulk of her output in the field 
of spectral classification. 

Cannon became interested in 
astronomy at Wellesley while studying 
under Sarah Whiting, but she spent sev- 
eral intervening years at home with her 
parents before returning to Wellesley as a postgraduate student. She became an assis- 
tant at the Harvard College Observatory in 1896 at a time when several other women 
were employed as astronomers, such as Williamina Fleming, Antonia Maury, and 
Henrietta Swan Leavitt. Interestingly, both Cannon and Leavitt were at least 
partially deaf. Cannon went on to succeed Fleming as curator of the observatory's 
astronomical photographs and in 1938 was appointed William Cranch Bond Astrono- 
mer at Harvard University, one of the first appointments of a woman at Harvard. 

Cannon was awarded six honorary degrees as well as the Nova Medal of the 
American Association of Variable Star Observers (1922), the Draper Medal of 
the National Academy of Sciences (1931), and the Ellen Richards Prize of 
the Society to Aid Scientific Research by Women (1932). She was elected to 
membership in such honorary societies as the American Philosophical Society of 
Philadelphia and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences of Boston. In 
1933, she established the Annie J. Cannon Prize of the American Astronomical 
Society to be awarded triennially to a woman who demonstrates distinguished 
service to astronomy. Cannon also supported women's suffrage and was a member 
of the National Woman's Party. 



Annie Jump Cannon catalogued the stars 
and was the most famous female astronomer 
of the first half of the 20th century. (Library of 
Congress) 



Carey, Susan E. | 281 

Carey, Susan E. 

Psychologist 

Education: B.A., Radcliffe College, 1964; Ph.D., Harvard University, 1971 

Professional Experience: lecturer, psychology, Harvard University, 1971-1972; 
adjunct assistant professor, Rockefeller University, 1974-1975; assistant to associ- 
ate professor, psychology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1972- 
1984, professor, brain and cognitive sciences, 1984-1996; professor, psychology, 
New York University (NYU), 1996-2001; professor, psychology, Harvard Univer- 
sity, 2001-, Henry A. Morss, Jr., and Elizabeth W. Morss Professor of Psychology, 
2004- 

Concurrent Positions: fellow, Radcliffe Institute, 1976-1978; Sloane Fellow, 
University of California, Berkeley, 1980-1981; fellow, Institute for Advanced 
Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, 1984-1985 

Susan Carey is a psychologist and researcher of cognitive development who stud- 
ies language and language development. Her research is unique in that it combines 
the concerns and questions of philosophy, linguistics, history of science, and the 
acquisition of culture with neuroscience and brain development. She has been a 
pioneer in the field of word meaning, language and numbers acquisition, and the 
recognition of human and nonhuman objects by infants under one year old. She 
has collaborated and co-authored papers with her colleague at Harvard's Labora- 
tory for Developmental Studies, Elizabeth Spelke. In addition to her numerous 
papers, articles, and book chapters, Carey is co-editor of several books, and author 
of Conceptual Change in Childhood (1985) and The Origin of Concepts (2009), 
which examines how children acquire complicated and abstract concepts and 
terminology created by adults. Her work questions our understandings of innate 
versus acquired knowledge, explores the relationship between thought and 
language, and has implications for adult interactions with infants as well as early 
childhood education, especially in math and science. 

Carey was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2002. She is a fellow 
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, British Academy, American 
Philosophical Society, and National Academy of Education, and was named a 
William James Fellow of the American Psychology Society (2002). She is also a 
member of the Society for Experimental Psychology, Society of Cognitive Neuro- 
science, International Society for Infant Studies, Society for Research in Child 
Development, Society for Philosophy and Psychology (president, 1983-1984), 
and Piaget Society. She was the recipient of a Cattell Fellowship (1995-1996), 
the Jean Nicod Prize, Paris (1998), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1999-2000), 



282 | Carothers, (Estrella) Eleanor 

and her work has also been supported by grants from the National Institutes of 
Health and the National Science Foundation. She has served on the editorial 
boards of journals such as Psychological Review, Psychological Science, Journal 
of Language Acquisition, Developmental Psychology, and others. 

Further Resources 

Harvard University. Faculty website, http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~lds/index.html7carey 
.html. 



Carothers, (Estrella) Eleanor 

1882 1957 
Zoologist 

Education: Nickerson Normal College, Kansas; B.A., University of Kansas, 
1911, M.A., 1912; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1916 

Professional Experience: assistant professor, zoology, University of Pennsylvania, 
1913-1926, lecturer, 1926-1933; research associate, University of Iowa, 1935-1941 

Concurrent Positions: member, Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, 
1920-1956 

Eleanor Carothers specialized in insect genetics and made contributions to the 
study of the cytological, or cellular, basis of heredity. She primarily studied the 
insect order of "orthoptera," which includes grasshoppers, crickets, locusts, and 
cockroaches. Having attended Normal College, she was probably a school teacher 
before receiving her undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of 
Kansas. She went on to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, 
where she was an assistant professor of zoology and one of the few female mem- 
bers of scientific expeditions to the Southern and Southwestern states in 1915 
and 1919. Her most important work, The Segregation and Recombination of 
Homologous Chromosomes as Found in Two Genera of Acrididae (Orthoptera), 
was published in 1917, and her research is still referred to in graduate courses to- 
day. She received major funding to research grasshopper cells through a grant 
from the Rockefeller Foundation Fund. For most of her career, she was an inde- 
pendent researcher affiliated with institutions such as the Marine Biological Labo- 
ratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and in 1933, she began an affiliation at the 
University of Iowa as a research associate in zoology. 



Carr, Emma Perry | 283 

Carothers was one of only seven women cited as primary investigators by 
Thomas H. Morgan in The Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity (1915), and her 
findings on the effect of x-rays on cells were published in leading scientific jour- 
nals, such as the Journal of Morphology, Biological Bulletin, and Proceedings of 
the Entomological Society. She was awarded the Ellen Richards Research Prize of 
the Naples Table Association in 1921. She was an elected member of the Academy 
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 



Carr, Emma Perry 

1880 1972 
Chemist 

Education: Ohio State University, 1898-1899; Mount Holyoke College, 1901- 
1904; B.S., University of Chicago, 1905, Ph.D., physical chemistry, 1910; Queen's 
University, Belfast, 1919; University of Zurich, 1925, 1929-1930 

Professional Experience: instructor, chemistry, Mount Holyoke College, 1905- 
1908, associate professor, 1910-1913, professor and chair, 1913-1946 

Emma Carr developed an ambitious research program in chemistry at Mount 
Holyoke, making that institution one of the first American research centers to 
make use of ultraviolet spectrophotometry to determine the structure of complex 
organic molecules. She was affiliated with Mount Holyoke for 65 years, building 
a strong science program for women in the tradition of the school's founder, 
Mary Lyon, who was also a chemistry teacher. She and her students made fun- 
damental contributions to the understanding of the causes of selective absorption 
of radiant energy. She received grants in the 1930s and 1940s from the National 
Science Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation to investigate simple 
unsaturated hydrocarbons using ultraviolet spectrophotometry. She was a coop- 
erating expert in charge of absorption spectra data for the International Critical 
Tables. 

Carr received numerous grants and prizes during her career, and was chosen in 
1937 as the first recipient of the Garvan Medal of the American Chemical Society. 
She was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society and also was a member 
of the American Chemical Society and the Optical Society of America. She 
received honorary degrees from Allegheny College in 1939, Russell Sage College 
in 1941, and Mount Holyoke College in 1952. 



284 | Carson, Rachel Louise 



Carson, Rachel Louise 



1907 1964 

Biologist, Conservationist 

Education: B.A., Pennsylvania College for Women, 1929; M.S., zoology, Johns 
Hopkins University, 1932 

Professional Experience: zoology staff, University of Maryland, 1931-1936; 
biologist, Bureau of Fisheries, 1936-1949, editor-in-chief, 1949-1952; indepen- 
dent author 

Rachel Carson was a prominent figure in the mid-twentieth-century conservation 
movement, and her name is often synonymous with the idea of ecology. Her 1962 
book, Silent Spring, was one of the first efforts to point out the dangers of using 
insecticides, notably DDT, and is often credited with starting the modern environ- 
mental movement. The book stirred a national controversy, arousing public opinion 
and leading to legislative change. Carson's interest in natural history prompted her 
to major in science in college. She received a degree in zoology and taught science 
courses before beginning graduate studies at the Marine Biological Laboratory in 




Rachel Carson, shown here giving testimony before Congress in 1 963, was a noted biologist and 
ecology writer who helped launch the modern environmental movement. (Library of Congress) 



Caserio, Marjorie Constance (Beckett) | 285 

Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In 1936, she accepted a position as an aquatic biologist 
with the Bureau of Fisheries, one of the first two women professionals to be hired by 
the bureau. She supplemented her income by writing magazine articles on natural 
history subjects in addition to writing numerous publications on conservation for 
the bureau. In 1940, when the Bureau of Fisheries merged with the Biological Survey 
to form the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, one of the stated purposes of the new 
department was conservation, and Carson became editor-in-chief of the bureau's pub- 
lications. She produced 12 government pamphlets on "Conservation in Action," argu- 
ing for a national policy for conserving natural resources. 

Carson had published three other books before Silent Spring made her famous: 
Under the Sea Wind (1941), The Sea Around Us (1951), and The Edge of the Sea 
(1956). The Sea Around Us was also a bestseller, translated into 30 languages, and 
won her a National Book Award. After the success of that book, she took a leave 
from the Bureau of Fisheries, supported by a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, 
and soon after resigned to build a cottage in Maine and become a full-time writer. 
After the publication of Silent Spring in 1962, she dedicated herself to the campaign 
to influence legislation curtailing the use of insecticide, but Carson died of cancer in 
1964 before any substantive results of her efforts were achieved. 

Carson received numerous awards and honors, including the John Burroughs 
Medal (1952), the Gold Medal of the New York Zoological Society (1954), and 
the Conservationist of the Year Award of the National Wildlife Federation (1963). 
Carson has been the subject of several biographies and picture books for children. 

Further Resources 

Holmes, Madelyn. 2004. American Women Conservationists: Twelve Profiles. Jefferson, 
NC: McFarland. 

Lear, Linda, ed. 1998. Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson. Boston, 
MA: Beacon Press. 

Lear, Linda. 2009. Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature. 2nd ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin. 



Caserio, Marjorie Constance (Beckett) 

b. 1929 
Organic Chemist 

Education: B.Sc, Chelsea College, University of London, 1950; M.A., Bryn 
Mawr College, 1951, Ph.D., chemistry, 1956 

Professional Experience: associate chemist, Fulmer Research Institute, England, 
1952-1953; assistant to instructor, chemistry, Bryn Mawr College, 1953-1956; fellow, 



286 | Charles, Vera Katherine 

California Institute of Technology, 1956-1964; assistant professor, chemistry, Univer- 
sity of California, Irvine, 1965-1967, associate professor, 1967-1971, professor, 
1971-1990; professor, chemistry, University of California, San Diego, 1990-1996, vice 
chancellor of academic affairs, 1990-1995, interim chancellor, 1995-1996, emerita 

Marjorie Caserio is recognized as a leading physical organic chemist who 
has achieved excellence in research and teaching as well as governance and 
administration. Her research centered on reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry. 
She received her doctorate from Bryn Mawr College in 1956 and taught in England 
and in the United States before joining the new campus of the University of 
California, Irvine in 1965 and moving to the University of California, San Diego in 
1990. She served as department head at Irvine, chair of the academic senates of both 
Irvine and the University of California system, and vice chancellor and interim 
chancellor at San Diego before retiring in 1996. She has also made important contri- 
butions to chemistry education by her innovative teaching methods. In the early 
1960s, she co-authored the book Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry. This text 
had a large impact on the teaching of organic chemistry with its emphasis on spectro- 
scopic methods. Her expertise was recognized by her appointment as a member and 
then chair of the Committee on Professional Training and Consultant on Graduate 
Education, both of the American Chemical Society. 

Caserio was born in England, and entered Chelsea College, University of 
London, at age 1 5 to study podiatry, but she soon switched to chemistry rather than 
pursue medicine. She obtained a fellowship from the English Speaking Union to 
do graduate work at Bryn Mawr College. She returned to England and obtained a 
position at the Fulmer Research Institute, but then applied for a postdoctoral 
appointment at the California Institute of Technology, where she stayed for nine 
years. While there, she met another postdoctoral appointee, Fred Caserio; they 
married in 1957, the same year she became a citizen of the United States. The 
new campus at the University of California, Irvine started hiring in the mid- 
1960s, and she was the second faculty member to be hired in the chemistry depart- 
ment. Caserio's significant contributions to research have been recognized with 
the Garvan Medal of the American Chemical Society (1975), given annually to 
an American woman chemist. 



Charles, Vera Katherine 

1877 1954 
Mycologist 

Education: Mount Holyoke College; A.B., Cornell University, 1903 



Chase, (Mary) Agnes Meara | 287 

Professional Experience: mycologist, Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department 
of Agriculture, 1903-1942 

Vera Charles was among the first women hired by the U.S. Department of Agricul- 
ture in professional positions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 
An expert on mushrooms, she co-authored several articles and USDA bulletins 
on topics such as "Mushrooms and Other Common Fungi," "Some Common 
Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms," and "Some Fungous Diseases of Economic 
Importance." She studied mycology and plant pathology at Cornell University's 
Agriculture School and began her long career with the USDA soon after gradu- 
ation. During the 1910s and 1920s, she worked with a group of women who 
included the USDAs first female mycologist, Flora Patterson. She and Patterson 
were often co-authors, and their published findings were widely known and highly 
regarded by their contemporaries. Charles wrote a profile of her colleague in the 
industry journal Mycologia after Patterson's death in 1928. 

Prior to the enactment of the Plant Quarantine Act in 1912, Charles inspected a 
large portion of the imported plants received in the department for disease and 
pathogen analysis; her lab was the first to identify potato wart disease on imported 
potatoes. In 1917, the Plant Disease Survey was organized, and Charles and Patterson 
were primarily responsible for all research and maintenance of the Pathological 
Collections. Charles had expert knowledge of Fungi imperfecti, and she spent 
several winters in Florida collecting mycological samples. She was interested in, 
and also published on, fungal pathogens in North American insects. 

Charles worked as a collaborator for the division of mycology and disease survey 
for several years after she retired until failing eyesight forced her to give up her micro- 
scopic studies. She published a book, Introduction to Mushroom Hunting (1931), 
which went through several reprinted editions, and contributed a chapter, "The 
Mycologist," to a book on Careers for Women (1935; edited by Catherine Filene). 

Further Resources 

Baker, Gladys L. 1976. "Women in the U.S. Department of Agriculture." Agricultural 
History 50(1): 190 201. 

"U.S. National Fungus Collections History." Systematic Mycology and Microbiology, 
USDA. http://www.ars. usda.gov/Services/docs. htm?docid=9399. 

Chase, (Mary) Agnes Meara 

1869 1963 
Botanist 

Education: public schools 



288 | Chasman, Renate (Wiener) 

Professional Experience: assistant, botany, Field Museum of Natural History, 
1901-1903; meat inspector, Chicago stockyards, U.S. Department of Agriculture 
(USDA), 1901-1903; botanical artist, Bureau of Plant Industry, USDA, 1903- 
1907, assistant systematic agrostologist, 1907-1923, assistant to associate 
botanist, 1923-1936, senior botanist, 1936-1939; custodian of grasses, National 
Herbarium, 1939-1963 

Agnes Chase was a botanist who greatly expanded scientific data and knowledge on 
grasses (a scientific field known as agrostology), particularly those of the Northern 
Hemisphere. She updated and augmented the collections of grasses of the U.S. 
National Herbarium, which were moved to the Smithsonian Institution in 1912. 
She eventually donated her own personal agrostological library to the Smithsonian. 
Chase began her career illustrating several publications for the Field Museum of 
Chicago. After transferring to Washington, D.C., with the USDA in 1903, she began 
her collaboration with A. S. Hitchcock, a specialist in agrostology. In 1936, she 
succeeded Hitchcock as the principal scientist in charge of systematic agrostology, 
and she became a senior botanist. She was the author of more than 70 research pub- 
lications. She wrote First Book on Grasses (1922) and Index to Grass Species 
(1962), a bibliographic register of types. She was also responsible for the 1950 
revised edition of the Manual of Grasses of the United States. 

Chase officially retired in 1939 but continued to be active at the National 
Herbarium for the rest of her life. Although she had little formal education, she 
became an acknowledged expert in her field. The Botanical Society of America 
awarded her a certificate of merit in 1956. She received an honorary degree from 
the University of Illinois in 1958, and the Smithsonian Institution named her its 
eighth honorary fellow. She was active in various reform movements, including 
women's rights, prohibition, and socialism. At one time, she was jailed for partici- 
pating in a women's rights march. 

Further Resources 

Baker, Gladys L. 1976. "Women in the U.S. Department of Agriculture." Agricultural History 
50(1): 190 201. 

Bonta, Marcia M. 1995. American Women Afield: Writings by Pioneering Women Naturalists. 
College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 

Chasman, Renate (Wiener) 

1932 1977 
Nuclear Physicist 

Education: M.Sc, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1955, Ph.D., physics, 1959 



Chasman, Renate (Wiener) | 289 

Professional Experience: research associate, Columbia University, 1959-1962; 
research associate, physics, Yale University, 1962; assistant to associate physicist, 
Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1963-1969, physicist, 1969-1977 

Renate Chasman was known for her work in the development of particle accel- 
erators. She spent most of her career at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, 
where she compiled and systematized neutron cross-sections before becoming 
one of the key participants in the development of particle accelerators. She 
was the only woman physicist in her department, but she was the chief theorist 
for the group. The Alternating-Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) at Brookhaven was 
the world's highest-energy particle accelerator at that time, and Chasman was 
responsible for the theoretical aspects of the design for this device. She created 
and used computer programs for exploring the behavior of the beam during the 
acceleration process, and when the device was put into operation, it was found 
to behave in excellent agreement with her theoretical predictions. She then 
joined the group that explored the concept and design of superconducting 
storage rings for protons in the range of several hundred GeV (a GeV is defined 
as a giga-electron volt; giga means a billion; thus, several hundred billion 
electron volts). 

Chasman and her twin sister, Edith, were born in Berlin, and the family was 
forced to flee to northern Europe in 1938. After the sisters graduated from high 
school in Sweden, they went to Israel, where Chasman received her doctorate in 
experimental physics. She then moved to New York to work as a research associate 
for the prominent female physicist Chien-Shiung Wu at Columbia University. 
She planned to follow her husband to Yale, but was told that her work visa required 
she leave the country for two years and then reapply for entrance. Administrators at 
Yale were able to intervene in her deportation, explaining to U.S. officials that the 
Chasmans were engaged in critical research in nuclear spectroscopy. As Renate 
Chasman's reputation grew, she was invited to serve on review committees at 
the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois and at the European 
Laboratory for Particle Physics in Switzerland. In the 1970s, she investigated the 
radiation from several electron synchrotrons and storage rings as a source of ultra- 
violet light, or x-rays, and designed storage rings especially for the production of 
synchrotron radiation. 

In 1972, Chasman was diagnosed with malignant melanoma, but she continued 
to work while receiving treatment. The construction of the last project on which 
she worked, the National Synchrotron Light Source, was approved in the fall of 
1977, but she never saw its completion. In 1985, the Brookhaven National Labora- 
tory established a Renate W. Chasman Scholarship awarded annually to a woman 
who plans to resume her scientific studies after an interruption. 



290 | Chesler, Phyllis 
Chesler, Phyllis 



b. 1940 
Psychologist 

Education: B.A., comparative literature and language, Bard College, 1963; M.A., 
psychology, New School for Social Research, 1967, Ph.D., psychology, 1969 

Professional Experience: instructor, psychology, Institute for Developmental 
Studies, New York Medical College, 1965-1966; teaching fellow and research 
associate, neurophysiology, Brain Research Laboratory, New York Medical 
College, 1966-1969; private practice, psychotherapy and forensic psychology, 
1970-1991; assistant professor, psychology, College of Staten Island, City Univer- 
sity of New York (CUNY), 1969-1998, emerita professor, psychology and 
women's studies, 1998- 

Concurrent Positions: research associate, Graduate Department of Psychology, 
Yeshiva University, 1965; intern, psychotherapy, Washington Square Institute for 
Psychotherapy and Mental Health, 1968-1969; clinical research associate and 
intern, psychology and psychiatry, New York Medical College, Metropolitan, 
1968-1969;instructor, United Nations Institute for Training and Research, 
1979-1980; visiting instructor, Graduate Forensic Psychology Program, John Jay 
College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, 1997; research scholar and visiting professor, 
International Research Institute on Jewish Women, Brandeis University, 
1997-1998 

Phyllis Chesler is a psychologist, educator, writer, and feminist cultural critic who 
has focused on women's mental-health issues. She has been a scholar and activist 
around a range of issues related to women's social, legal, and political inequality, 
including abortion, rape, equal pay, healthcare, incest, battery, pornography, moth- 
erhood, spirituality, and mental health. She has taught for 30 years at the College 
of Staten Island in New York, and has been an invited lecturer and affiliated fac- 
ulty at several other colleges and universities, as well as a psychotherapist in pri- 
vate practice. Her groundbreaking book, Women and Madness, published in 1972 
at the height of the new women's movement, traces the psychological enslavement 
of women by society and by the psychiatric profession that labeled women as 
"mad" when they did not conform to traditional feminine ideals. Women and 
Madness (reissued in 1997 and again in 2005) has sold millions of copies and is 
credited with initiating major reforms within the mental-health community. 

Chesler is a prolific author who has published 13 books and hundreds of articles 
in major newspapers and magazines in both the United States and Europe. Her 
books include With Child: A Diary of Motherhood (1979), which describes her 



Chesler, Phyllis | 291 



own experience of combining femi- 
nism and motherhood. Her concern 
about the legal rights of mothers led 
to two other books: Mothers on Trial: 
The Battle for Children and Custody 
(1986) and Sacred Bond: The Legacy 
of Baby M (1988), which deals with 
the new issues of surrogacy and repro- 
ductive technologies in the 1980s. 
Patriarchy: Notes of an Expert Witness 
(1994) and Letters to a Young Feminist 
(1997) are collections of writings on a 
variety of feminist issues, the latter 
presented as wisdom for the next 
generation of activists. Her concern 
about women's historical participation 
in the oppression of other women is 
explored in Woman 's Inhumanity to 
Woman (2002; reissued 2009). Her 
criticism of some aspects of western 
feminism itself is the subject of The 
Death of Feminism: What's Next in 
the Struggle for Women's Freedom 
(2005), which describes what she sees 




Psychologist Phyllis Chesler has been a 
scholar and activist around a range of issues 
related to women's social, legal, and political 
inequality. (Bettmann/Corbis) 



as the "moral failure" of a women's movement that has failed to address global 
women's rights issues, such as women's oppression under fundamentalist Islamic 
religion. 

Chesler has appeared as an expert and controversial guest on numerous televi- 
sion shows, including the Today Show, Oprah, Nightline, CSPAN, the History 
Channel, CNN, and Court TV, and other television and radio news programs. 
Among her awards and honors are the Dorothy Gelgor Prize in Psychology from 
the New School for Social Research (1967), Positive Image of Women Award 
from the National Organization for Women (1978), Feminist Book Fortnight 
Award for Sacred Bond (1990), Medal of Honor Award from Veteran Feminists 
of America (1993), and Nike Prize at the International Book Fair (1998). She 
was a co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology (1969) and the 
National Women's Health Network (1974), and a charter member of the Women's 
Forum and the Veteran Feminists of America. She has been a member of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Psychological 
Association, American Association for the Abolition of Involuntary Mental 



292 | Chilton, Mary-Dell (Matchett) 

Hospitalization, Eastern Psychological Association, New York State Psychological 
Association, and National Organization for Women. 

Further Resources 

"The Phyllis Chesler Organization." http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/. 



Chilton, Mary-Dell (Matchett) 

b. 1939 

Molecular Biologist, Biochemist 

Education: B.S., chemistry, University of Illinois, 1960, Ph.D., chemistry, 1967 

Professional Experience: fellow, microbiology, University of Washington, 
Seattle, 1967-1969, fellow, biochemistry, 1969-1970, assistant biologist, 1971- 
1979, assistant to associate research professor, biology, 1973-1979; associate pro- 
fessor, biology, Washington University, St. Louis, 1979-1983; executive director, 
agricultural biotechnology, Ciba-Geigy Biotechnology Facility (now Syngenta), 
1983-1991, vice president, biotechnology, 1991— 

Mary-Dell Chilton is renowned for her research in plant biotechnology and the 
genetic engineering of agricultural crops to make them resistant to pests and environ- 
mental distress. In the 1970s, she was a member of a team of university and industry 
scientists who developed the first method to introduce foreign genes into plant cells 
and reliably produce normal fertile plants. They utilized the natural form of genetic 
engineering (a bacterium invades a plant and sometimes destroys it) to inject a 
bacterium into a crop plant to modify it genetically. Chilton and her colleagues used 
bacterium to transplant genes from one plant into another, altering the bacterial DNA 
to prevent crown gall disease and tumors from developing in the new plant. Crown 
gall disease can afflict a wide range of broad-leaved plants, and it causes consider- 
able loss in certain crops, notably grapes, stone fruits, and ornamental plants. She 
published a paper in the June 1983 issue of Scientific American outlining the process 
the team developed. She went on to apply their research to genetically modifying 
other crop plants, such as maize. 

Genetic engineering of plants is on the front line of research in both academic 
and industrial institutions, and millions of dollars are invested each year to 
improve crop plants. Although there has been much controversy about genetic 
engineering in animal research, especially the cloning of animals, there is also 
criticism of plant research. The fear is that agriculture will become too dependent 
on specific strains of plants to the extent that if those strains were wiped out by 



Chory, Joanne | 293 

disease, the world food supply could be in trouble. Chilton was a founder of 
Ciba-Geigy Corporation (now Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc., or "SBI"), located 
at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, where she is vice president of bio- 
technology and where, in 2002, a new building was named after her. The 
international company, which employs 19,000 people worldwide, is "committed 
to sustainable agriculture through innovative research and technology." 

Chilton was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1985, 
just two years after the successful genetic engineering of plants was announced. 
She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of 
the American Society of Microbiology. She has received the Bronze Medal from 
the American Institute of Chemists (1960), the Hendricks Medal of the American 
Chemical Society (1987), and the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Sciences 
(2002). 

Further Resources 

Syngenta Global. "Mary-Dell Chilton, Ph.D.: Biography." http://www.syngenta.com/en/ 
downloads/Chilton Biography.doc. 



Chory, Joanne 

b. 1955 

Plant Biologist 

Education: A.B., biology, Oberlin College, Ohio; Ph.D., microbiology, University 
of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1984 

Professional Experience: postdoctoral fellow, Harvard Medical School, 1984- 
1988; professor and Director, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, 
Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, California, 1988-; Investigator, 
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 1997- 

Concurrent Positions: adjunct professor, biology, University of California, 
San Diego 

Joanne Chory is a plant biologist whose research focuses on the genetic and bio- 
chemical explanations for how plants physically respond to light and other envi- 
ronmental changes. She has determined that plants have special light-sensitive 
receptors that respond to changes in sunlight, for example, and alter their shape, 
growth, and even flowering. This work has implications for identifying certain 
plant hormones and altering plant genetics in order to benefit commercial 



294 | Clark, Eugenie 

agriculture through resisting disease and increasing plant yields even in shady, 
crowded, or off-season conditions. She is director of the Plant Molecular and 
Cellular Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San 
Diego and, since 1997, has been an affiliated Investigator with the Howard Hughes 
Medical Institute. 

Chory was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1999 and is a fellow 
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), 
German National Academy of Sciences, and French Academie des Sciences. She 
has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the National 
Academy of Sciences Award for Initiatives in Research (1994), the Charles Albert 
Schull Award of the American Society of Plant Physiologists (1995), and the 
L'Oreal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science (2000), and was named Scientific 
American's Research Leader in Agriculture in 2003. 

Further Resources 

Salk Institute. Faculty website, http://www.salk.edu/faculty/faculty details.php?id=12. 

Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Joanne Chory, Ph.D." http://www.hhmi.org/research/ 
investigators/chory bio. html. 



Clark, Eugenie 

b. 1922 

Zoologist, Ichthyologist 

Education: B.A., zoology, Hunter College, 1942; M.A., zoology, New York 
University, 1946; Ph.D., zoology, New York University, 1950 

Professional Experience: chemist, Celanese Corporation of America, New 
Jersey, 1942-46; chemist, Department of Endocrinology, Cornell Medical School, 
New York, 1946; oceanographic chemist, Philippine Expedition, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, 1947; research assistant, ichthyology, Scripps Institution of Ocean- 
ography, University of California, 1946-1947; research assistant to associate, animal 
behavior and ichthyology, American Museum of Natural History, 1947-1981; 
instructor, biology, Hunter College, New York, 1953-1954; pharmacologist, Nepera 
Corporation, New York, 1954-1955; executive director, Cape Haze Marine Labora- 
tory, Florida, 1955-1967; associate professor, zoology, City University of New York, 
1966-1967; associate professor to professor, zoology, University of Maryland, 
1968-1992; consultant and director emerita, Mote (formerly Cape Haze) Marine 



Clark, Eugenie | 295 



Laboratory, Florida, 1986-; senior 
research scientist and professor emer- 
ita, Department of Biology (formerly 
Zoology), University of Maryland, 
1992- 

Concurrent Positions: swimming 
instructor, Shelton Athletic Club, 
New York, 1943-1944; director, 
National Science Foundation (NSF) 
summer science training programs, 
Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, 
Florida, 1955-1965; research associ- 
ate, New England Institute for Medi- 
cal Research, 1956-1966, visiting 
professor, 1966-1968; consultant/ 
participant on television and film 
documentaries, 1967-; founding 
member, Marine Biological Labora- 
tory, Hebrew University, Israel, 
1969-1979; visiting professor, zool- 
ogy, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 
1972 




Zoologist and ichthyologist, Eugenie Clark. 
(Courtesy of University Publications, 
University of Maryland) 



Eugenie Clark is one of the foremost marine biologists in the world, specializing 
in sharks, the reproductive behavior of fishes, morphology and taxonomy of plec- 
tognath fishes, and Red Sea fishes. Known worldwide as "the Shark Lady," she has 
successfully combined scientific research with imparting scientific information to 
the general public. Clark became interested in fish when, as a child, she spent 
Saturdays at the New York Aquarium. She began to keep an aquarium at home, 
collecting a variety of fish, and went on to study biology in high school and then 
zoology at Hunter College. After receiving her master's degree, she was hired by 
the Fish and Wildlife Service for an expedition to the Philippines, but at a stop 
in Hawaii she was notified that she would not be continuing on as one of her supe- 
riors did not want to hire a woman. She returned to New York to pursue the Ph.D., 
studying the mating habits of platies and swordfishes, and producing the first test- 
tube fishes. At the time she received her doctorate, Clark was one of only three 
female ichthyologists in the United States. 

As part of her graduate education, Clark attended summer programs 
at the University of Michigan Biological Station and the Marine Biological Labo- 
ratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. She participated in a post- World War II 



296 | Clarke, Edith 

government project studying and counting fish in the South Pacific and, after 
receiving her doctorate, traveled to Egypt to study fish in the Red Sea, where she 
identified three new species. She published an early bestselling autobiography 
detailing her work and adventures, entitled Lady with a Spear (1953). Philanthrop- 
ist Anne Vanderbilt read the book and invited Clark to Florida to direct a new 
marine laboratory to be funded by the Vanderbilt family. Clark served as director 
and later consultant to the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, where she began to 
specialize in the study of sharks, collecting and studying hundreds of specimens, 
both dead and alive. She became well-known as "the Shark Lady" in both 
academic and popular scientific circles and publications (such as through National 
Geographic). In 1968, Clark took a teaching position in zoology at the University 
of Maryland and, soon after, published another autobiography, The Lady and the 
Sharks (1969). 

Clark lectures internationally at conventions, schools, and universities, and has 
consulted on or made appearances in hundreds of radio, television, and documen- 
tary programs on sharks and marine environments, such as the National Geo- 
graphic Society special on "The Sharks" (1981-1982), BBC-Discovery 
Channel's "Reef Watch— Live from the Red Sea" (1988), National Geographic 
Explorers on marine life (1987-1990), and the IMAX film Search for the Great 
Sharks (1993). She is a member of dozens of underwater, zoological, and scientific 
organizations, and has received numerous awards and honors, including the Cous- 
teau Award (1973), Gold Medal of the Society of Women Geographers (1975), 
John Stoneman Marine Environmental Award (1982), Lowell Thomas Award of 
the Explorers Club (1986), Franklin L. Burr Award of the National Geographic 
Society (1993), and the Medal of Excellence of the American Society of Oceanog- 
raphers (1994). At least four species of fish have been named for Clark and, in 
addition to being profiled in numerous books and articles, she is the subject of sev- 
eral biographies for children. 

Further Resources 

"The Shark Lady." http://www.sharklady.com. 



Clarke, Edith 

1883 1959 
Electrical Engineer 

Education: A.B., Vassar College, 1908; University of Wisconsin, 1911-1912; 
M.S., electrical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1919 



Cleave, Mary L. | 297 

Professional Experience: high school teacher, mathematics and physics, 1909; 
Marshall College, 1910-1911; computer, American Telephone and Telegraph 
(AT&T), 1912-1918; supervisor, Turbine Engineering Department, General Elec- 
tric Company (GE), 1920-1921; instructor, physics, Constantinople Woman's 
College, Turkey, 1921-1922; engineer, GE, 1922-1945; professor, electrical engi- 
neering, University of Texas, Austin, 1947-1956 

Edith Clarke was a mathematician and theorist recognized as an expert in the 
design of large electrical power stations. She developed calculating devices that 
allowed the prediction of system reactions to extraordinary events without solving 
the same sets of equations repeatedly. She patented such a calculating device in 
1925. She authored numerous articles that were recognized for their high merit; 
two of them received prizes from the American Institute of Electrical Engineers 
(AIEE). Her book, Circuit Analysis of A-C Power Systems (1943, 1950), became 
a standard graduate text. She spent most of her career as an engineer at General 
Electric before joining the faculty at the University of Texas, Austin as the first 
woman to teach electrical engineering in a university in the United States. 

After receiving her undergraduate degree, Clarke taught mathematics at a high 
school and a college for several years before deciding to pursue a career in engineer- 
ing. She studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin for one year, and was 
the first woman to receive a master's degree in electrical engineering from MIT She 
found it difficult to find employment as an engineer, however, and worked for a few 
years as a "computer" at AT&T, supervising a group of women performing computa- 
tions for research engineers in an era before the development of the electronic calcu- 
lator and computer. After teaching abroad for one year, she was hired by GE as an 
engineer. She invented and patented a device called the "Clarke calculator" for solv- 
ing line equations. She was the first woman elected a fellow of the AIEE in 1948, 
and she received the Society of Women Engineers' Achievement Award in 1954. 

Further Resources 

Agnes Scott College. "Edith Clarke." Biographies of Women Mathematicians, http:// 
www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/clarke.htm. 



Cleave, Mary L. 

b. 1947 

Environmental Engineer, Astronaut 

Education: B.S., biological sciences, Colorado State University, 1969; M.S., 
microbial ecology, Utah State University, 1975, Ph.D., civil and environmental 
engineering, 1979 



298 | Cleave, Mary L. 




Astronaut Mary Cleave. (NASA) 



Professional Experience: research 
staff, Ecology Center and Utah Water 
Research Laboratory, Utah State 
University, 1971-1980; astronaut, 
National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA), 1980-1990, 
deputy project manager, SeaWiFS, 
Laboratory for Hydrospheric Pro- 
cesses, NASA Goddard Space Flight 
Center, 199 1— , deputy associate 
administrator (advanced planning), 
Office of Earth Science, and associate 
administrator, Science Mission 
Directorate, NASA Headquarters, 
2004-2007 

Mary Cleave was one of the first eight 
women astronauts selected between 
1978 and 1980, and she flew on two 
Atlantis missions (1985 and 1989). 
In the mid-1970s, NASA modified 
its requirements to allow applicants without jet pilot experience, but with 
advanced scientific training. Many women scientists and engineers applied. 
Cleave earned her engineering doctorate in 1979 and was selected for the astronaut 
program in 1980. Cleave's earlier work focused on environmental engineering 
questions concerning algae growth, sand and salt flow, and the effects on fish and 
plant life in the Great Basin Desert of Utah. On the Atlantis 1989 mission, she 
was involved in the deployment of the Magellan planetary probe that would map 
over 95% of the surface of Venus. She has studied planetary atmospheric and mag- 
netic fields among other geological observations. She left the astronaut program in 
1990, but continued to work for NASA in the Laboratory for Hydrospheric 
Processes in Maryland, specializing in environmental problems through a project 
called SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing, Wide-Field-of-view Sensor), a satellite that monitors 
ocean color for signs of vegetation growth for insight into global climate and 
other changes. 

Cleave has been honored with the American Astronautical Society Flight 
Achievement Award (1989) and the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal 
(1994), named NASA Engineer of the Year (1998), and nominated by the National 
Women's History Project as one of their "Women Taking the Lead to Save Our 
Planet" (2009). She has been a member of the Water Pollution Control Federation, 



Cobb, Geraldyne M. | 299 

the Society for Professional Engineers, the Association of Space Explorers, and 
Women in Aerospace. Since 2007, she has served on the board of directors of 
Sigma Space Corps, which provides services and products to the aerospace indus- 
try, including NASA. 

Further Resources 

Kevles, Bettyann H. 2003. Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space. New York: 
Basic Books. 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "Mary L. Cleave (Ph.D., PE.)." http:// 
www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/cleave-ml.html. 



Cobb, Geraldyne M. 

b. 1931 

Aviator, Astronaut Consultant 

Education: student, Oklahoma College for Women, 1948 

Professional Experience: teacher, aviation school, 1949; self-employed charter 
pilot, 1950; charter pilot, commercial and military planes, Fleetway, Inc., chief 
pilot, South American operations, 1951-1955; chief pilot, Executive Aircraft, 
Inc; executive pilot and advertising and sales promotion manager, Aero Design 
& Engineering Company, 1958-1964; consultant, astronaut qualifying tests, 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 1960-1961, consultant, 
1961-1962; private and commercial pilot 

Geraldyne "Jerrie " Cobb was a commercial pilot who helped developed astronaut 
training tests for women, but never made a space flight. More than 20 years before 
astronaut Sally Ride made her historic launch in 1983, Cobb worked with NASA 
to develop physical and mental tests for female pilots who wished to enter the 
astronaut training program. Between 1957 and 1960, Cobb set international 
records for speed, altitude, and distance in the twin-engine class of airplanes, pilot- 
ing Aero Commander planes, and was considered one of the premier women pilots 
of that era. Although numerous women had ferried military planes overseas during 
World War II, the military services had no data on the physical capabilities of 
women pilots, and none of the branches of the military trained women pilots. 

Cobb originally worked with a privately funded organization to modify NASA's 
astronaut tests for women. She and 12 other women passed the tests, often surpass- 
ing the performance of men, but NASA would not allow the women into the astro- 
naut program. Although Cobb participated in congressional hearings urging the 



300 | Cobb, Geraldyne M. 

program to select women astronauts, the project was canceled. By this time, the 
Russians had several women in their astronaut program, and Valentina Tershkova 
became the first woman in space when she orbited the Earth for three days in 
1963. Cobb went on to work briefly with NASA directly as a general consultant 
and consulted for the Federal Aviation Administration as well. 

Cobb became interested in flying early, and when she was 12 years old, her 
father installed pedal blocks and seat cushions so she could fly his biplane. She 
earned her private pilot's rating when she was only 16 years old and, leaving col- 
lege after one year, received her commercial pilot's and flight instructor's licenses 
and obtained a job teaching in an aviation school. One of the most dangerous jobs 
she had was ferrying World War II fighter planes that the Navy had sold to the 
Peruvian air force. Flying in the Andes is considered one of the most challenging 
experiences for any pilot, and she made solo trips there for several years when 
she worked for Fleetway, Inc. She also tested reconditioned commercial and mili- 
tary planes and flew them throughout the world for the same company. She 
became engaged to her boss, Jack Ford, but after they broke their engagement, 
she left the company in 1955. She achieved her numerous flight records while 
employed as a pilot for Aero Design & Engineering Company. She went on to 
fly humanitarian missions and conduct surveys of new routes in South America 
and other remote regions. In 1999, the National Organization for Women launched 
a failed campaign to give Cobb one more chance to go into space. 

Several books have been written about women in the early years of the space 
race, and Cobb published two autobiographies: Woman into Space: The Jerrie 
Cobb Story (1963) and Jerrie Cobb, Solo Pilot (1997). Cobb is the recipient of 
the Amelia Earhart Gold Medal of Achievement (1949), Amelia Earhart Memorial 
Award (1957), Pilot of the Year by the National Pilots Association (1959), Harmon 
International Trophy (1973), and Bishop Wright Air Industry Award (1979), and 
has been honored by the governments of France, Columbia, Brazil, Peru, and 
Ecuador for her aviation and humanitarian achievements. In 1981, she was nomi- 
nated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2007, she received an honorary doctorate 
from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. 

Further Resources 

Ackmann, Martha. 2004. The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen American Women 
and the Dream of Space Flight. New York: Random House. 

Nolen, Stephanie. 2002. Promised the Moon: The Untold Story of the First Women in the 
Space Race. New York: Avalon. 

Weitekamp, Margaret A. 2005. Right Stuff, Wrong Sex: America's First Women in Space 
Program. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

"The Jerrie Cobb Foundation, Inc." http://www.jerrie-cobb-foundation.org/. 



Cobb, Jewel Plummer | 301 

Cobb, Jewel Plummer 

b. 1924 
Cell Biologist 

Education: student, University of Michigan, 1941-1942; B.A., Talladega College, 
1944; M.S., New York University, 1947, Ph.D., cell biology, 1950 

Professional Experience: instructor, anatomy, and director, Tissue Culture Labo- 
ratory, University of Illinois, 1952-1954; research instructor, surgery, New York 
University, 1955-1956, assistant professor, 1956-1960; professor, Biology 
Department, Sarah Lawrence College, 1960-1969; dean and professor, zoology, 
Connecticut College, 1969-1976; dean and professor, biological science, Doug- 
lass College (Rutgers University), 1976-1981; president and professor, biological 
sciences, California State University, Fullerton, 1981-1990, president emerita, 
1990-; trustee professor, California State University, Los Angeles, 1990- 

Concurrent Positions: member, Marine Biological Institute, Woods Hole 
Oceanographic Institution, 1972-; member, U.S. Department of State Advisory 
Committee on Oceans and International Environment and Science Affairs, 1980- 
1990; principal investigator, Southern California Science and Engineering 
ACCESS Center and Network, 1991—; chair, Committee on Women in Science 
and Engineering, National Research Council, 1993-; ASCEND Project, Science 
Technology Engineering Program (STEP) Up for Youth, California State Univer- 
sity, Los Angeles, 2001- 

Jewel Plummer Cobb is a researcher in cell biology, an educator who develops pro- 
grams to encourage ethnic minorities and women in the sciences, and an administra- 
tor who has headed several colleges and universities. Her research in cell biology has 
focused on melanin, a brown or black skin pigment; she also studies the causes and 
growth of normal and cancerous pigment cells. In addition, she has studied the 
effects of newly discovered cancer chemotherapy drugs on human cancer cells. 
One of her first accomplishments was establishing and directing the Tissue Culture 
Laboratory at the University of Illinois, and she managed to continue her research 
during appointments at various other colleges even though her positions often 
required heavy administrative responsibilities. When she was selected as president 
of California State University, Fullerton, however, she had to reduce her involvement 
in research. As president, she established the first privately funded gerontology 
center in Orange County, lobbied the state legislature to approve the construction 
of new science buildings, and worked to ensure a more diverse student body. She 
is also the director of a program committed to bringing science education to inner- 
city middle school students, the Science Technology Engineering Program (STEP) 



302 | Cohn, Mildred 

Up for Youth ASCEND project. Under her leadership, the program received a sig- 
nificant three-year grant from the National Science Foundation in 2001. 

Cobb became interested in science at an early age owing to the example of her 
physician father. She selected a career in biology in her sophomore year in high 
school when she first looked through a microscope and went on to the University 
of Michigan in the early 1940s. She left Michigan after three semesters, however, 
due to their policy of segregated dormitories. She transferred to Talladega College 
in Alabama, earning her bachelor's degree, and went on to graduate studies with a 
fellowship to New York University. Initially intending to become a doctor, she 
decided to pursue biological research instead. 

Cobb has received 1 8 honorary degrees and numerous awards for her service to 
organizations dedicated to increasing the presence of women and minorities in the 
sciences. She was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National 
Academy of Sciences and is a fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences and the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a member of the 
Association of Women in Science and the Tissue Culture Association. 

Further Resources 

Ehrhart-Morrison, Dorothy. 1997. No Mountain High Enough: Secrets of Successful African 
American Women. Berkeley, CA: Conari Press. 



Cohn, Mildred 

1913 2009 
Biochemist 

Education: A.B., Hunter College, 1931; A.M., Columbia University, 1932, Ph.D., 
chemistry, 1938 

Professional Experience: junior science aide, National Advisory Committee on 
Aeronautics, 1932-1935; biophysical assistant, George Washington University 
medical school, 1937-1938; biophysicist, Cornell University medical school, 
1938-1941, research associate, 1941-1946; biochemist, School of Medicine, 
Washington University, St. Louis, 1946-1957, associate professor, 1958-1960; 
associate professor, medical school, University of Pennsylvania, 1960, professor, 
biophysics and physical biochemistry, 1960-1982; senior scientist, Fox Chase 
Cancer Center, 1982-1985; emeritus professor 

Concurrent Positions: career investigator, American Heart Association, 
1964-1978 



Cohn, Mildred | 303 




Mildred Cohn was a biochemist 
whose research focused on metabolic 
studies with stable isotopes, mecha- 
nisms of enzymatic reactions, and 
electron spin. Cohn's most important 
contribution to science was her work, 
in the 1950s, on using nuclear mag- 
netic resonance (NMR) to study the 
function of enzymes. She pursued 
this work at Washington University 
in St. Louis, where she worked in the 
biochemistry department with Gerty 
T. Cori and Carl Ferdinand Cori, 
winners of the 1947 Nobel Prize in 
Physiology or Medicine. 

The daughter of Russian immi- 
grants, Cohn showed an early interest 
in science and entered college to 
study chemistry and physics at the 
age of only 14. At the time, even the 
chair of the Hunter College chemistry 
department believed that he was 
training female students to be science 

teachers, not scientists. By age 17, she had received her bachelor's degree and had 
gone on to graduate work at Columbia. She was unable to support herself through 
teaching assistantships since those positions were reserved for male students. She 
lived at home and worked odd jobs to complete her master's degree, but was 
forced to leave school to find paid employment. In 1932, she went to work for 
the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics at Langley Field, Virginia, 
where she worked as a research assistant, and the only woman, in the engine divi- 
sion. She returned to Columbia and expected to find another industry research 
position after completing her Ph.D. in chemistry in 1937, but most of the large 
research companies would not even interview a Jewish woman at that time. She 
instead found research laboratory positions in college medical schools before tak- 
ing her first academic appointment in 1958 at Washington University, where her 
husband, theoretical physicist Henry Primakoff, had also been offered a position. 
She later commented that there were advantages to working as an independent 
researcher in the early years of her career, as she had more flexibility for raising 
her children and could pursue long-term projects without the publishing pressures 



Biochemist Mildred Cohn was the first female 
career investigator for the American Heart 
Association. (Bettmann/Corbis) 



304 | Cole, Johnnetta (Betsch) 

of an academic position. Cohn retired from teaching in 1982 and subsequently had 
a three-year affiliation at the Fox Chase Cancer Center as a senior scientist. 

Cohn was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences in 1971 
and was awarded the Garvan Medal of the American Chemical Society (1963), the 
National Medal of Science (1982), and the Distinguished Award of the College of 
Physicians (1987). She was a senior member of the Institute for Cancer Research 
(1982-1985) and served as president of the American Society of Biological 
Chemists (1978-1979). She was a member of the American Philosophical Society, 
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Chemical Society, and 
the Biophysical Society, and was president of the American Society of Biological 
Chemistry (1978-1979). She was the mother of three children, all of whom also 
earned Ph.D.s in scientific disciplines. 

Further Resources 

Wasserman, Elga. 2002. The Door in the Dream: Conversations with Eminent Women in 
Science. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press. 



Cole, Johnnetta (Betsch) 

b. 1936 
Anthropologist 

Education: student, Fisk University, 1953; B.A., sociology, Oberlin College, 
1957; M.A., Northwestern University, 1959, Ph.D., anthropology, 1967; LLD, 
Bates College, 1989 

Professional Experience: instructor, University of California, Los Angeles, 1964; 
assistant professor, anthropology and director, black studies, Washington State 
University, Pullman, 1967-1970; professor, anthropology and Afro-American 
studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1970-1983, provost of under- 
graduate education, 1981-1983; visiting professor, Hunter College, City Univer- 
sity of New York (CUNY), 1983-1984, professor, anthropology, 1983-1987, 
director, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 1984-1987; president, Spelman 
College, 1987-1997; professor, anthropology and African American studies, 
Emory University, 1999-2002; president, Bennett College, 2002-2007; director, 
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2009- 

Concurrent Positions: chair, United Way of America, 2004-2006 

Johnnetta Cole is a cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on African and 
African American women and families. Cole also had a distinguished career as an 



Cole, Johnnetta (Betsch) | 305 




Johnnetta Cole, a cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on African and African- 
American women and families, served as president of both Spelman College and Bennett 
College. (AP/Wide World Photos) 



administrator, serving as president of the only two remaining historically black 
female colleges in the United States: Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and 
Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. She was born into a prominent 
middle-class family in segregated Jacksonville, Florida. Her great-grandfather 
had helped to found an African American insurance company in 1901 — a local 
library and a YMCA were named for him — but even though her family was a 
prominent one, she attended segregated public schools. At the age of 15, she was 
accepted at the predominantly black Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, 
under its early admissions program. She went on to Oberlin, her first experience 
in a predominantly white institution, and then to graduate school at Northwestern. 
After receiving her master's degree in 1959, she married fellow student Robert 
Cole and the couple departed for Liberia to gather data for their doctoral projects, 
his in economics and hers in anthropology. When they returned to the United 
States, her husband completed his doctorate and secured a position at Washington 
State University, Pullman. Johnnetta taught part-time at the same institution and 
received her doctorate from Northwestern in 1967. She also conducted fieldwork 
in Cuba, Haiti, and Grenada, and was involved in a Peace Corps training project 
at San Francisco State University in 1965. She eventually relocated to the University 



306 | Collins, Eileen 

of Massachusetts, where she developed a black studies program and her husband 
taught at Amherst College in Massachusetts. She was selected president of Spelman 
College in 1987. Even though Spelman College is a private, all-girls school, Cole 
was the first black woman to serve as president. She taught women's studies 
and African American studies at Emory University before becoming President of 
Bennett College in 2002. 

Her fieldwork has included studies of a Chicago black church, labor in Liberia, 
racial and gender inequality in Cuba, Caribbean women, female-headed households, 
the way women age, and the Cape Verdean culture in the United States. In her book 
Conversations: Straight Talk with America's Sister President (1993), she discussed 
some of the problems faced by African American women, such as racism and sexism, 
as well as ways to deal with those problems. With Beverly Guy-Sheftall, she 
co-authored Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women 's Equality in African American 
Communities (2003). In addition, she has edited three textbooks on anthropology: 
Anthropology for the Eighties (1982), All American Women: Lines That Divide, Ties 
That Bind (1986), and Anthropology for the Nineties: Introductory Readings (1988). 

Cole is a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and a member of 
the Association of Black Anthropologists and the National Council of Negro 
Women, and has served on the board of directors for the Global Fund for Women. 
She has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for her educational and 
community service, including the McGovern Behavioral Science Award from the 
Smithsonian Institute (1999). In 2004, the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity & 
Inclusion Institute was founded at Bennett College, and Professor Cole continues 
to serve on the Board of Directors. 

Further Resources 

"Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity & Inclusion Institute." http://www.jbcinstitute.org/. 



Collins, Eileen 

b. 1956 
Astronaut 

Education: B.A., mathematics and economics, Syracuse University, 1978; M.S., 
operations research, Stanford University, 1986; M.A., space systems management, 
Webster University, 1989 

Professional Experience: instructor pilot, Vance Air Force base, Oklahoma, 1947- 
1982; aircraft commander and instructor pilot, Travis Air Force base, California, 
1983-1984; assistant professor, mathematics, and instructor pilot, U.S. Air Force 



Collins, Eileen | 307 




President Bill Clinton greets astronaut Eileen Collins at a White House ceremony in 1998. 
Collins was the first female space shuttle pilot and the first female commander of a shuttle 
mission. (AP/Wide World Photos) 



Academy, Colorado, 1986-1989; astronaut, National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA), 1991-2006 

Eileen Collins is an engineer and astronaut who logged over 870 hours in space as 
part of four space flights: Discovery (1995), Atlantis (1997), Columbia (1999), and 
Discovery (2005). For the first Discovery flight in 1995, which docked with the 
Russian space station Mir, Collins was the first woman to pilot the space shuttle. 
For the Columbia flight in 1999, Collins was the first female shuttle commander. 
Collins received her pilot training through the Air Force, graduating from the Air 
Force Undergraduate Pilot Training program in 1979 and the Air Force Test Pilot 
School in 1990. Between those years, she worked as an instructor pilot and Air 
Force Academy mathematics professor. She became an astronaut in 1991. Collins 
retired from the Air Force in 2005 and from NASA in 2006. 



308 | Colmenares, Margarita H. 

Collins dreamed of flying and of becoming an astronaut as a child, but her fam- 
ily did not have money for college. She attended community college and, at the 
age of 20, worked odd jobs to pay for flying lessons. She received an Air Force 
ROTC scholarship to attend Syracuse University in New York, where she studied 
math and economics, and went on to the pilot training program at Vance Air Force 
Base in Oklahoma. She was one of only four women in her class of more than 300 
and became the Air Force's first female flight instructor, teaching in Oklahoma and 
then at Travis Air Force Base in California. In California, she attended the Air 
Force Institute of Technology and went on to earn a master's degree in operations 
research from Stanford University. She relocated to the U.S. Air Force Academy 
in Colorado as an instructor pilot and then earned a master's degree in space sys- 
tems management from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. While attend- 
ing the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, she 
applied for and was accepted into the NASA astronaut program. She has said that 
she considers the female military pilots during World War II, as well as the first 
generation of women astronauts, role models who paved the way for her to 
become an astronaut and to become the first female shuttle pilot and commander. 

Collins has received numerous awards and honors, including a President's Medal 
from the New York Institute of Technology, Defense Superior Service Medal, Distin- 
guished Flying Cross, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Meritorious 
Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Air Force Commendation Medal with one 
oak leaf cluster, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for service in Grenada (Opera- 
tion Urgent Fury, October 1983), French Legion of Honor, NASA Outstanding Lead- 
ership Medal, NASA Space Flight Medals, Free Spirit Award, and National Space 
Trophy. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998. 

Further Resources 

Kevles, Bettyann H. 2003. Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space. New York: 
Basic Books. 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "Eileen Marie Collins (Colonel, USAF, 
RET.)." http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/collins.html. 



Colmenares, Margarita H. 

b. 1957 

Environmental Engineer 

Education: student, business, California State University, Sacramento; student, 
Sacramento City College; B.Sc, civil engineering, Stanford University, 1981 



Colmenares, Margarita H. | 309 

Professional Experience: field construction engineer, Chevron Corporation, 
1981, recruiting coordinator (San Francisco) field construction engineer (Salt 
Lake City), foreign training representative, 1983-1986, compliance representative 
and lead engineer in environmental cleanup (El Segundo refinery), 1986, air quality 
specialist (El Segundo), 1989-1996; director of corporate liaison, U.S. Department 
of Education, 1996- 

Concurrent Positions: White House fellow 1991-1992 

Margarita Colmenares is the first Hispanic engineer to be selected as a White 
House fellow since the program was established in 1964, and during her 1991— 
1992 fellowship years, she served as special assistant to the deputy secretary of 
education in Washington, D.C. She was also the first woman president of the Soci- 
ety of Hispanic Professional Engineers. She received her first assignment specifi- 
cally involved in environmental protection as an engineer charged with ensuring 
compliance with federal, state, and local environmental, safety, fire, and health 
regulations at Chevron Corporation's facilities. She directed an environmental 
cleanup project at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo and was then promoted to 
air quality specialist in 1989. At this time, she also was national president of the 
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and persuaded Chevron to 
give her a one-year paid leave while she was president. During her term of office, 
she promoted education, especially engineering education, for Hispanics. In 1989, 
she also participated in the National Hispana Leadership Initiative, a program 
for women that included training sessions in public policy at Harvard's John F. 
Kennedy School of Government. 

Colmenares was born in Sacramento of parents who had emigrated from 
Mexico. Her parents sent her and her siblings to parochial schools in order to pro- 
vide the best education for them, and she was selected in high school for a program 
for inner-city youth to work at Xerox Corporation. She entered California State 
University, Sacramento to study business courses, but discovered an interest in 
engineering. She filled in gaps in her education with courses in chemistry, physics, 
and calculus at Sacramento City College before entering the Engineering School 
at Stanford University. While attending school, she also worked part-time with 
the California Department of Water Resources inspecting the structural conditions 
of dams and water-purifying plants. She won five scholarships to attend Stanford 
and simultaneously worked for the Chevron Corporation in Texas and California 
in that company's cooperative education program. 

When Colmenares received the White House fellowship in 1991-1992, she also 
requested an assignment with the Department of Education. In 1996, she accepted 
a position as director of corporate liaison for the U.S. Department of Education, 
where she works with business leaders and organizations around the country to 



310 | Colson, Elizabeth Florence 

engage their support for education. She has received recognition for her commit- 
ment to the Hispanic community. She founded the San Francisco chapter of SHPE 
in 1982 and served as president of that organization. In 1990 and 1992, Hispanic 
Business recognized her as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the country. 

Further Resources 

Ambrose, Susan A. et al. 1997. Journeys of Women in Science and Engineering: No 
Universal Constants. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. 



Colson, Elizabeth Florence 

b. 1917 
Anthropologist 

Education: B.A., anthropology, University of Minnesota, 1938, M.A., 1940; M.A., 
Radcliffe College, 1941, Ph.D., social anthropology, 1945 

Professional Experience: assistant social science analyst, War Relocation Author- 
ity, Arizona, 1942-1943; research assistant, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, 
1944-1945; senior research officer, Rhodes-Livingstone Institute of Social 
Research, Northern Rhodesia, 1946-1947, director, 1948-1951; senior lecturer, 
social anthropology, Manchester University, England, 1951-1953; associate profes- 
sor, anthropology, Goucher College, Maryland, 1954-1955; associate professor and 
research associate, African studies, Boston University, 1955-1959, part-time 
research associate, 1959-1962; professor, anthropology, Brandeis University, 
1959-1963; visiting professor, Northwestern University, 1963-1964; professor, 
anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 1964-1984, emeritus 

Concurrent Positions: fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral 
Sciences, Stanford University, 1967-1968; lecturer, University of Rochester, 
1973; fellow, California Institute of Technology, 1975-1976; lecturer, University 
of New Mexico, 1978; visiting professor, University of Zambia, 1987; visiting 
senior research fellow, Refugee Studies Programme, Queen Elizabeth House, 
Oxford, England, 1988—1989 

Elizabeth Colson has investigated social change in central Africa and in the north- 
west United States; in particular, her work was a forerunner to anthropological 
research on African Americans. Her main research interest has been a longitudinal 
study of the Gwembe Tonga of Zambia through a period of forced resettlement 
and political reorganization. Whether in Africa or in the United States (such as 
among the Pomo, Makah, or Hopi-Navajo Indians, or Japanese Americans during 



Colwell, Rita (Rossi) | 311 

World War II), her research has looked into the effects of assimilation, relocation, 
and economic and political change on women, families, and religious life. In 
common with many anthropologists, whose work often takes them around the globe, 
she has held a variety of jobs in academia, institutes, fellowships, and special 
projects. She has had unique appointments as director of an institute in Northern 
Rhodesia and as a senior lecturer at Manchester University in England. She pub- 
lished dozens of articles and reports, and authored or edited more than 15 books, 
including Life among the Cattle-Owning Tonga: The Material Culture of a Zambian 
Tribe (1949), The Makah Indians: A Study of an Indian Tribe in Modern American 
Society (1953), Marriage and Family among the Plateau Tonga of Northern 
Rhodesia (1958), The Social Consequences of Resettlement: The Impact of the 
Kariba Resettlement upon the Gwembe Tonga (1971), Autobiographies of Three 
Porno Women (1974), and For Prayer and Profit: The Ritual, Economic, and Social 
Importance of Beer in Gwembe District, 1950-1982 (co-author, 1988). 

Colson was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1977. She received 
the Morgan Lectureship at the University of Rochester (1973), the Outstanding 
Achievement Award of the Society of Woman Geographers (1982), the Rivers 
Memorial Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (1982), and the Distin- 
guished Africanist Award of the American Association for African Studies (1988). 
She was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, a fellow 
of the American Anthropological Association, and a fellow of the American Associ- 
ation for the Advancement of Science. She has been a member of the American 
Ethnological Society, Society for Political and Legal Anthropology, American Soci- 
ety for Applied Anthropology, American Association of African Studies, American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, Society of Women Geographers, and Association 
of Social Anthropologists. She received honorary degrees from Brown University 
(1979), the University of Rochester (1985), and the University of Zambia (1992). 

Further Resources 

University of California, Berkeley. "Seventh Emeritus Lecture Honoring Elizabeth F. Colson." 
Anthropology Emeritus Lecture Series. (20 October 1997). http://www.lib. berkeley 
.edu/ANTH/emeritus/colson/index.html. 



Colwell, Rita (Rossi) 

b. 1934 

Marine Microbiologist 

Education: B.S., bacteriology, Purdue University, 1956, M.S., genetics, 1958; 
Ph.D., marine microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, 1961 



3 1 2 I Colwell, Rita (Rossi) 




Marine microbiologist Rita Colwell is awarded the National Medal of Science by President 
George W. Bush in 2007. (AP/Wide World Photos) 



Professional Experience: research assistant professor, University of Washington, 
1961-1964; visiting assistant professor, Georgetown University, 1963-1964, as- 
sistant to associate professor, biology, 1964-1972; professor, microbiology and 
biotechnology, University of Maryland, 1972-, director, University of Maryland 
Biotechnology Institute (UMBI), 1987-1991, president, 1991-1998; director, 
National Science Foundation, 1998-2004; chair and chief scientist, Canon U.S. 
Life Sciences, Inc., 2004- 

Concurrent Positions: consultant, Environmental Protection Agency, 1975-; 
director, Maryland Sea Grant Program, 1978-1983; vice president of academic 
affairs, University of Maryland, 1983-1987; member, National Science Board, 
1984-1990; chairman, National Science Board, 1996-1998; councilor, National 
Academy of Sciences, 2008-201 1 



Colwell, Rita (Rossi) | 313 

Rita Colwell is a leader in marine biotechnology, a field that involves the applica- 
tion of molecular techniques to marine biology for harvesting medical, industrial, 
and aquaculture products from the sea. Her goal is to improve the environment and 
human health by understanding, preserving, and using the ocean's resources, and 
she believes the future of marine biotechnology lies in new drugs made from 
marine sources, new methods of cost-effective fish culture, seaweed genetics, 
and improved biotechnological waste recycling. Her work led to the creation of 
the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, established in 1987 with 
Colwell as director and then president of this cutting-edge research center. In 
1998, she was appointed by President Clinton to be director of the National Science 
Foundation (NSF), the first woman to hold this position. At the NSF, she showed a 
commitment to K-12 science and mathematics education, and to increasing the 
presence of women and minorities in science. She left her post at the NSF in 
February 2004 to become chair of Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc., a new organization 
that seeks to apply molecular research to medical diagnostic applications. 

Colwell was the seventh of eight children of parents who emphasized the 
importance of a good education. She obtained a full scholarship to study at Purdue, 
where she majored in bacteriology. She married in her senior year of college and 
planned to continue in the master's program while her husband, Jack Colwell, 
completed his degree in physical chemistry. However, the head of the bacteriology 
department did not want to give fellowship money to a woman. She was accepted 
into the master's program in genetics instead. After she and her husband both 
received doctorates from the University of Washington, Colwell obtained a grant 
from the National Science Foundation and joined her husband in Canada to con- 
duct research. The Colwell Massif geological site in Antarctica is named for her 
work in the polar regions. 

Colwell has authored, co-authored, or edited 16 books and hundreds of scien- 
tific papers. She also produced the award-winning film, Invisible Seas. She was a 
member of the National Science Board (1984-1990), which advises the federal 
government on science policy. She is a fellow of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, the Society for Industrial Microbiology, and the 
American Academy of Microbiology. She is a member of the American Society 
for Microbiology (president, 1984-1985) and the Society for Invertebrate Pathology, 
and the recipient of the Fisher Award of the American Society for Microbiology 
(1985), Gold Medal Award of the International Institute of Biotechnology (1990), 
Phi Kappa Phi National Scholar Award (1993), Outstanding Service Award from 
the American Institute of Biological Sciences (2004), and National Medal of Science 
(2006). She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2000, and in 
2008 she began a three-year term as a councilor to the NAS. 



314 | Conway, Lynn Ann 



Further Resources 



University of Maryland. Faculty website, http://chemlife.umd.edu/about/circleofdiscovery/ 
ritarcolwell. 



Conway, Lynn Ann 

b. 1938 

Computer Scientist, Electrical Engineer 

Education: B.S., Columbia University, 1962, M.S., electrical engineering, 1963 

Professional Experience: staff researcher, IBM Corporation, 1964-1969; senior 
staff engineer, Memorex Corporation, 1969-1973; research engineer, Xerox Cor- 
poration, 1973-1983; chief scientist and assistant director of strategic computing, 
Defense Advisory Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 1983-1985; professor, 
electrical engineering and computer science and associate dean of the College of 
Engineering, University of Michigan, 1985-1998, emerita 

Concurrent Positions: visiting associate professor, electrical engineering and 
computer sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1978-1979 

Lynn Conway is famous for two major developments in computer circuitry, the 
first being the invention of a new approach to the design of integrated computer 
circuit chips that simplified and demystified the design process. Her second major 
achievement was a new method of chip fabrication that enabled designers to 
obtain rapidly prototypes with which to test their hardware and software designs. 
The latter development was reported in the textbook Introduction to VLSI Systems 
(1980, co-authored with Carver Mead), which became the standard text in courses 
around the world. 

Conway excelled in physics and mathematics in high school, and began her col- 
lege career as a physics major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 
She took some time off from school before returning to Columbia University to com- 
plete her undergraduate and master's degrees in engineering. While at Columbia, her 
course project was a software system that impressed a visiting professor and led to a 
job at IBM. In 1969, she accepted a position with Memorex Corporation, where she 
headed a project to develop a processor for an inexpensive office computer. Memorex 
decided to drop its computer program and, in 1973, Conway joined Xerox Corpora- 
tion on a project to superimpose an optical character recognition over a facsimile 
system. The prototype was a mammoth machine that filled a room, and Xerox 
dropped the project. She next worked on designing computer chips, which resulted 



Conwell, Esther Marly | 315 

in the major accomplishment of simplifying computer chip design, and briefly taught 
a course on chip design at MIT. In 1983, she had the opportunity to work for the 
Defense Advisory Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Washington, D.C., the 
agency that developed ARPAnet, an early version of the Internet. Part of her job 
was to oversee the preparation of an advanced computing program to secure funding 
from Congress. She moved to the University of Michigan in 1985 as associate dean of 
the College of Engineering, where she spent the remainder of her career and helped 
the university keep abreast of computer research and technology. 

Conway is truly a pioneer in computer technology, as she has worked at the fore- 
front of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, telecommunica- 
tions, and personal computers. But she has an unusual personal story as well, in 
that she was born a male (Robert) and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 
1968. She believes she was fired from IBM because of her surgery, and she did not 
speak publicly about her past as a man for many years, achieving worldwide recog- 
nition for her work as a woman computer scientist. She now maintains a website that 
tells her story and provides information on transgender and transsexual issues. 

Conway is a fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and 
has served on the editorial board of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engi- 
neers (IEEE) magazine Spectrum. She is or has been a member of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Artificial 
Intelligence, and the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, and is a presidential 
appointee on the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Air Force Academy. She was elected 
to the National Academy of Engineering in 1989 and has received numerous awards, 
including the Wetherill Medal from the Franklin Institute (1985), the Meritorious 
Civilian Service Award given by the Secretary of Defense (1985), and the National 
Achievement Award of the Society of Women Engineers (1990). 

Further Resources 

University of Michigan. "Lynn Conway: Computer Scientist, Electrical Engineer, Inven- 
tor; Research Manager, Engineering Educator." http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/ 
conway/conway.html. 



Conwell, Esther Marly 

b. 1922 
Physicist 

Education: B.A., physics, Brooklyn College, 1942; M.S., physics, University of 
Rochester, 1945; Ph.D., physics, University of Chicago, 1948 



316 | Conwell, Esther Marly 

Professional Experience: instructor, physics, Brooklyn College, 1946-1951; 
technical staff, Bell Telephone Laboratories, 1951-1952; engineering specialist, 
Sylvania/General Telephone and Electronics Laboratory (GTE), 1952-1963, 
manager, physics department, 1963-1970; professor, Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, 1971-1972; principal scientist, Xerox Laboratories, 1972-1980, 
research fellow, 1980-1998; professor, chemistry and physics, University of 
Rochester, 1998- 

Concurrent Positions: visiting lecturer and researcher, University of Paris, 1962- 
1963; associate director, National Science Foundation Center for Photoinduced 
Charge Transfer, University of Rochester, New York, 1991— 

Esther Conwell is a physicist who specializes in the study of solid-state materials, 
such as silicon, which are used to make transistors and semiconductors in the elec- 
tronics and computer industries. She spent almost her entire career in industry, as 
head of research departments at both GTE and Xerox. She has published more 
than 100 papers in leading scientific journals, describing how semiconductors can 
be affected by subjecting the substances to outside perturbations like high electric 
fields. She is the author of an early work in the industry, High-Field Transport in 
Semiconductors (1967), which became a widely used text on the topic. She has also 
researched xerography, or photoconductors, in the use of copy machines. 

Her father lived through the Depression and encouraged Conwell's education so 
that she would be able to support herself someday. Although she taught briefly at 
Brooklyn College, there were few academic positions for a woman physicist at the 
time she received her Ph.D., so she found her niche in industry research. She worked 
at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for one year, then moved to GTE, where she rose 
through the ranks to manager of the physics department. She spent another year 
teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before accepting a posi- 
tion as principal scientist and then research fellow for Xerox. Since her retirement 
from Xerox, she has been on the chemistry faculty at the University of Rochester. 

Conwell received the Society of Women Engineers achievement award (1960) 
and was elected to both the National Academy of Engineering (1980) and the 
National Academy of Sciences (1990). She has been elected a fellow of the 
American Physical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 
and is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 
Her numerous awards and honors include the Achievement Award of the Society 
of Women Engineers (1960), being the first woman to receive the Thomas 
Edison Medal of the IEEE (1997), a Dreyfus Senior Scholar Mentor Award 
(2005), and the Susan B. Anthony Lifetime Achievement Award of the University 
of Rochester (2006); most recently, the American Chemical Society honored her 
with an Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences 



Cordova, France Anne-Dominic | 317 

(2008). As part of her commitment to issues faced by women scientists, she was a 
founding member of the American Physical Society's Committee on Women in 
Physics (1971). In 2002, she was named by Discover magazine as one of the 
50 most important female scientists. Her son, Lewis Rothberg, is also a physicist 
on the faculty at the University of Rochester, and the two have collaborated on 
research and articles for publication. 

Further Resources 

Byers, Nina and Gary A. Williams. 2006. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth- 
Century Women to Physics. New York: Cambridge University Press. 

Wasserman, Elga. 2002. The Door in the Dream: Conversations with Eminent Women in 
Science. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press. 

University of Rochester. Faculty website, http://www.chem.rochester.edu/faculty/ 
faculty.php?name=conwell. 



Cordova, France Anne-Dominic 

b. 1947 

Astronomer, Astrophysicist 

Education: B.A., Stanford University, 1969; Ph.D., physics, California Institute of 
Technology, 1979 

Professional Experience: high school teacher, 1969-1971; research assistant, 
astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 1975-1979, fellow, 1979; staff 
member and department group leader, astrophysics, Los Alamos National Labora- 
tory, 1979-1989; professor and head, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 
Pennsylvania State University, 1989-1993; chief scientist, National Aeronautics 
and Space Administration (NASA), 1993-1996; professor, physics and vice 
chancellor for research, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1996-2002; 
professor, astrobiology and chancellor, University of California, Riverside, 
2002-2007; president, Purdue University, 2007- 

France Cordova, an observational astronomer and high-energy astrophysicist, 
served as chief scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
(NASA), a professor of physics and astrobiology, and a college president. 
Her research covers a wide range of subjects: observational and experimental 
astrophysics, multispectral research on x-ray and gamma-ray sources, ultraviolet 
spectroscopy of nearby binary stars, thermal emissions from neutron stars, and 
spaceborne instrumentation. As a chief scientist for NASA, she worked on the 



318 | Cordova, France Anne-Dominic 




Astronomer and astrophysicist France Anne- 
Dominic Cordova became president of Purdue 
University in 2007. (AP/Wide World Photos) 



Mars Pathfinder Space Program and, 
although she left NASA before the 
Pathfinder reached Mars in 1997, 
NASA later awarded her its highest 
honor, the Distinguished Service 
Medal (2007). Cordova spent several 
years in California, improving fund- 
ing for space and science research in 
the University of California system. 
In 2007, she became the first woman, 
and first Latina, to become president 
of Purdue University, coincidentally 
the alma mater of astronaut Neil 
Armstrong. 

Cordova initially intended to study 
anthropology, but after college gradu- 
ation began teaching high school 
physics and math. She became inter- 
ested in cosmology and earned her Ph.D. in physics in 1979. She was employed 
at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she studied white dwarfs, neutron 
stars, and black holes, theorizing that white dwarfs should emit x-rays but at lower 
intensities than neutron stars. She looked at more than 200 white dwarf close bina- 
ries with x-ray satellites to prove this theory and, with colleagues, described math- 
ematically the low-energy pulsations in these systems. She moved to Pennsylvania 
State University in 1989 as professor and head of the Department of Astronomy 
and Astrophysics, where her husband, Christian J. Foster, led a Ph.D. program in 
cognitive science and education. 

Cordova has served on numerous prestigious committees, including the Presi- 
dent's National Medal of Science Committee (1991-1993), the committee that 
selects the persons to receive the National Medal of Science, one of the top awards 
in the nation. She received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the California 
Institute of Technology (2007) and was named to Stanford University's Multicultural 
Hall of Fame (2008). She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 
and the Association for Women in Science, and a member of the American Astro- 
nomical Society and the International Astronomical Union. In 1996, she appeared 
on a PBS television series about women minority scientists. 



Further Resources 

Purdue University. President's website, http://www.purdue.edu/president/about/index 
.html. 



Cori, Gerty Theresa Radnitz | 319 

Cori, Gerty Theresa Radnitz 

1896 1957 
Biochemist 

Education: M.D., German University of Prague, 1920 

Professional Experience: assistant, Karolinen Children's Hospital, 1920-1922; 
assistant pathologist, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, 1922-1925, assistant 
biochemist, 1925-1931; researcher, medical school, Washington University, 
St. Louis, 1931-1947, professor, biochemistry, 1947-1957 

Gerty Cori was a biochemist who was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize in 
Physiology or Medicine, and the first American woman to win in any of the sci- 
ences. She won the Nobel Prize jointly with her husband, Carl F. Cori, in 1947 
for their work on the effect of hormones on the rate of conversion of glycogen to 
glucose in the overall processes of the body's carbohydrate metabolism. Their dis- 
covery was termed the "Cori cycle," and their laboratory at Washington University 
in St. Louis became the focal point for all researchers interested in carbohydrate 
metabolism. Their research had implications for understanding diabetes and other 
metabolic diseases, and in later work they demonstrated that a human heritable 
disease can stem from a defect in an enzyme. 

The couple met while they were both in medical school in Prague and immigrated 
to the United States when Carl received an appointment at Roswell Park Memorial 
Institute in Buffalo, New York. Gerty also received a staff appointment and, in addi- 
tion to their regular duties, the two pursued their own research interests in normal 
carbohydrate metabolism and its regulation. They decided to leave Roswell and Carl 
was recruited by several universities, none of which would offer Gerty a faculty 
appointment. They finally found dual positions at Washington University, where Carl 
was chair of the department of pharmacology, and Gerty collaborated with her hus- 
band while receiving a token salary as a researcher for more than 15 years. Only after 
they were awarded the Nobel Prize did she receive a full professorial appointment. 

Gerty was diagnosed with bone marrow disease in 1947, but she continued to 
work for another 10 years in spite of extreme pain. After receiving the Nobel 
Prize, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1948. She was 
also the 1948 recipient of the Garvan Medal of the American Chemical Society. 
In 2008, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp featuring Gerty Cori as part of 
an "American Scientists" series. 

Further Resources 

Opfell, Olga S. 1986. The Lady Laureates: Women Who Have Won the Nobel Prize. Metuchen, 
NJ: Scarecrow Press. 



320 | Cowings, Patricia Suzanne 

McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch. 1998. Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, 
and Momentous Discoveries. Secaucus, NJ: Birch Lane Press. 

"Dr. Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori." Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating 
America's Women Physicians. National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of 
Health, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography 
69.html. 



Cowings, Patricia Suzanne 

b. 1948 

Psychologist, Physiologist 

Education: B.A., psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 
1970; M.A. and Ph.D., psychology, University of California, Davis, 1973 

Professional Experience: postdoctoral associate, National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA)/Ames Research Center, 1973-1975; research specialist, 
San Jose State University Foundation, 1975-1977; research psychologist and prin- 
cipal investigator, NASA/ Ames Research Center, 1977- 

Concurrent Positions: adjunct associate professor, psychology, University of 
Nevada, Reno, 1987; adjunct assistant professor, psychiatry, University of California, 
Los Angeles, 1991-2001; acting assistant chief, Life Sciences Division, NASA/ 
Ames, 1995; adjunct associate professor, biomedical engineering, University of 
Akron, Ohio, 1997-; adjunct assistant professor, medical/clinical psychology, 
F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of Health 
Sciences, Maryland, 1998— 

Patricia Cowings is known for specialized work in psychophysiology, the study of 
the relationships among the mind, behavior, and bodily mechanisms, and, in par- 
ticular, in studying the effects of zero gravity on astronauts. She worked to develop 
a treatment for the motion sickness commonly experienced by astronauts and pio- 
neered the use of biofeedback and autogenic (or self-suggestion) training to help 
suppress the problem. The results of her research were first tested in space and 
found successful during the September 1992 Spacelab-J mission, an eight-day 
flight of the space shuttle Endeavour. Cowings replicated the conditions that cause 
motion sickness to record the physiological and psychological changes that 
occurred. The astronauts affectionately called her "the Baroness of Barf." She 
teaches a subject to mentally evoke a sensation, like warmth in a limb or relaxation 
of muscles, to bring about desired physiological changes such as increased skin 



Cowings, Patricia Suzanne | 321 



temperature or relaxed muscles. In 
biofeedback, she teaches people to 
control as many as 20 physiological 
functions related to motion sickness, 
including heart rate, skin conduct- 
ance, depth and rate of respiration, 
and flow of blood to the hands. 
During the first test in space, the 
astronauts had biofeedback units 
strapped to their wrists. Another area 
in which Cowings has worked is 
therapy to exercise the veins in the 
astronauts' legs to combat the effects 
of weightlessness. Her husband, 
William B. Tiscano, also works at 
NASA, and the two have co-authored 
several publications together. 

Cowings's work combines her 
early interests in both space science 
and psychology. After receiving her 
doctorate in psychology, she received 

a postdoctoral appointment at NASA's Ames Research Center and has remained 
there throughout most of her career. Her research for NASA has led to important 
breakthroughs for the comfort and health of astronauts, and her autogenic training 
exercise methods and system were patented in 1997. She has received numerous 
awards and honors, including the NASA Individual Achievement Award (1993), 
Black Engineer of the Year Award (1997), AMES Honor Award for Technology 
Development (1999), NASA Space Act Award for invention (2002), and National 
Women of Color Technology Award (2006). She is a member of the Society for 
Psychophysiological Research, American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, and New York Academy of Sciences. 




NASA psychophysiologist Dr. Patricia 
Cowings. (NASA) 



Further Resources 

Ehrhart-Morrison, Dorothy. 1997. No Mountain High Enough: Secrets of Successful African 
American Women. Berkeley, CA: Conari Press. 

Kevles, Bettyann H. 2003. Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space. New York: 
Basic Books. 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "Patricia Cowings." http://humansystems 
.arc.nasa.gov/groups/ACD/personnel view.php?personnel id=20. 



322 | Cox, Geraldine Anne (Vang) 

Cox, Geraldine Anne (Vang) 



b. 1944 

Environmental Scientist, Biologist 

Education: B.S., Drexel University, 1966, M.S., 1967, Ph.D., environmental 
science, 1970 

Professional Experience: technical coordinator of environmental programs, Ray- 
theon Company, 1970-1976; White House fellow, special assistant to secretary, 
U.S. Department of Labor, 1976-1977; environmental scientist, American Petro- 
leum Institute, 1977-1979; vice president and technical director, Chemical Manu- 
facturers Association, 1979-1991; vice president, Fluor Daniel, subsidiary of 
Fluor Corporation, 1991-1993; chair and chief executive officer, AMPOTECH, 
1994-2000; independent consultant, 1996-; Disaster Assistance Employee, 
FEMA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2004- 

Concurrent Positions: adjunct associate professor, Graduate Environmental 
Program, Drexel University, 2002- 

Geraldine Cox is an environmental scientist whose research focuses on water pol- 
lution, ecological damage assessment, and environmental health. She is known for 
her role in creating chemical industry policy guidelines for community emergen- 
cies following the accidental release of methyl isocyanate gas at a plant in Bhopal, 
India, late in 1984. At the time, she was vice president and technical director of the 
Chemical Manufacturers Association, a professional organization whose members 
represent 90% of the chemical companies in the United States. The explosion was 
devastating to the owner of the plant, Union Carbide Corporation, because of the 
contamination of the area around the plant and the adverse publicity about safety 
procedures at that location. In the United States, the Chemical Manufacturers 
Association's guidelines established the Community Awareness and Emergency 
Response (CAER), which led to the adoption of a federal and later an international 
standard drafted by the United States, both based on Cox's model. 

Cox left the association in 1991 to join Fluor Daniel as a vice president, a position 
she held for two years before helping to found AMPOTECH, a company committed 
to using waste coal and other technologies to create low-pollution energy in develop- 
ing countries. She has been an environmental impact consultant and analyst for both 
government and trade organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency, 
U.S. Department of Justice, and the chemical technologies firm EUROTECH, and 
has been a participant in numerous workshops and committees of the National 
Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. She has held many signifi- 
cant committee assignments, such as founder and chair of the Marine Water Quality 



Cox, Gertrude Mary | 323 

Committee, member of the Transportation Advisory Committee of the U.S. Coast 
Guard (from whom she received a Meritorious Service Medal, the highest civilian 
award, in 1992), and member of the Engineering Affairs Council of the Association 
of American Engineering Societies. She has received the Achievement Award of the 
Society of Women Engineers (1984) and is a member of the American Society for 
Testing and Materials, Water Pollution Control Federation, American Chemical 
Society, American National Standards Institute, and Society of Women Engineers. 

Cox, Gertrude Mary 

1900 1978 
Mathematician, Statistician 

Education: B.S., mathematics, Iowa State University, 1929, M.S., statistics, 1931; 
graduate student, psychological statistics, University of California, Berkeley, 
1931-1933 

Professional Experience: research assistant to assistant professor, statistical labo- 
ratory, Iowa State University, 1933-1940; professor, experimental statistics, North 
Carolina State College, 1940-1944, head, Institute of Statistics, 1944-1949, 
department of biostatistics, 1949-1960; head, Research Triangle Institute, statis- 
tics research division, 1960-1965; independent consultant 

Gertrude Cox was the prominent American woman statistician of her time and is 
remembered by many as the "First Lady of Statistics." She founded the department 
of experimental statistics in the School of Agriculture and was head of the Institute 
of Statistics at North Carolina State College. Perhaps her greatest legacy was as an 
administrator, for Cox was committed to promoting statistics research and teaching 
at other institutions throughout the South, helping to establish programs at the Univer- 
sity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and the Research Triangle Institute, which com- 
bined and drew on the research of the three campuses at North Carolina State 
College, the University of North Carolina, and Duke University. Even after her formal 
retirement in 1965, she traveled to Egypt, where she spent a year helping establish an 
Institute of Statistics at the University of Cairo. Cox's specialty was the design of 
experiments, and she enthusiastically used each new generation of computers as they 
became available. Under her leadership, North Carolina State College was one of the 
first colleges to use IBM computers and therefore to develop some of the most power- 
ful statistical software programs. She published Experimental Designs (1950, 
co-authored with William Cochran), which became a popular and widely used textbook. 
After graduating high school, Cox began training to become a deaconess in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. She enrolled at Iowa State to obtain a degree in social 



324 | Crane, Kathleen 

science, but switched to mathematics for her bachelor's degree in 1929 and, in 193 1, 
received the first master's degree in statistics from Iowa's mathematics department. 
She studied psychological statistics at Berkeley for two years before returning to 
Iowa State to assist in establishing the new Statistical Laboratory. Although she never 
completed the requirements for the Ph.D., she was appointed to the faculty at Iowa 
State in 1939. When her Iowa advisor was asked by North Carolina State College 
for faculty recommendations, he sent a list of male graduates for consideration, but 
then added a note: "Of course if you would consider a woman for this position I 
would recommend Gertrude Cox of my staff." Cox was hired in 1940 as head of the 
newly created department of experimental statistics at North Carolina State College, 
the first female head of any department at that institution. She obtained sizable grants 
from the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations for her program in statistics and in 1945 
organized and became director of the Institute of Statistics, which combined the 
teaching of statistics at the University of North Carolina and at North Carolina State 
College. Even after her retirement from the Research Triangle Institute in 1965, 
Cox remained active as a consultant for government agencies and research groups. 

Cox was the first woman elected to the International Statistical Institute (1949), 
and she served as president of the American Statistical Association (1956). She 
was one of the founders and also president of the Biometric Society (1969), and 
was editor (1945-1955) of the Society's Biometrics Bulletin. She was a fellow of 
the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the Royal Statistical Society of 
England, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1975. Her con- 
tribution to North Carolina State College (now North Carolina State University) 
has been honored with both a building and a scholarship in her name, and, in 
1986, the Caucus of Women in Statistics also established a Gertrude M. Cox 
Scholarship fund in her name. 

Further Resources 

American Statistical Association. Statisticians in History, http://www.amstat.org/about/ 
statisticiansinhistory /index. cfm?fuseaction=biosinfo&BioID=2. 

Crane, Kathleen 

b. 1951 
Oceanographer 

Education: B.S., Oregon State University, 1973; Ph.D., oceanography, Scripps 
Institution of Oceanography, 1977 

Professional Experience: postdoctoral fellow, Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti- 
tution, 1977-1979; research scientist, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, 



Crosby, Elizabeth Caroline | 325 

1979-1993; professor, ocean and earth sciences, Hunter College, City University 
of New York, 1985-2002; program manager, Arctic Research Office, National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2002- 

Concurrent Positions: director, Arctic Environmental Security Geographic Infor- 
mation System, Naval Research Laboratory, 1993-1998 

Kathleen Crane is an oceanographer, marine geologist, and ecologist who focuses on 
the Arctic region. She is program manager of the Arctic Research Office of NOAA, 
where she coordinates missions related to Arctic marine ecosystems and climate 
change and has been mission coordinator for two major expeditions (2004 and 
2009) of the Russian-American Long-term Census of the Arctic (RUSALCA). 
Crane received a doctorate in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Ocean- 
ography in San Diego, California, where she studied geophysics and underwater 
thermal vents in the Galapagos. She studied mid-ocean ridges as a postdoctoral 
researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, and then 
began an affiliation with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York. She 
was a director of an Arctic environmental research program at the Naval Research 
Laboratory and taught for many years at Hunter College in New York. 

Having originally studied waters and marine geology in the southern hemi- 
sphere, in the 1990s, Crane became interested in Arctic research. Her professional 
and personal lives came together after adopting her daughter from Siberia in 1996, 
and in 2002, she left academia to join NOAA as part of a U.S.-Russian collabora- 
tion on Arctic research. Crane has been an invited lecturer and visiting scientist at 
numerous institutions throughout the United States and Europe, including the 
University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of Hawaii; the University 
of Oslo, Norway; and the University of Paris, France. She has coordinated and been 
chief scientist of more than 18 international ocean expeditions as well. In 2003, she 
published an autobiography, Sea Legs: Tales of a Woman Oceanographer. 

Further Resources 

Delaney, Peggy, ed. 2005. "Autobiographical Sketches of Women in Oceanography." Ocean- 
ography 18(1): 65 246. (March 2005). The Oceanography Society, http://www.tos.org/ 
oceanography/issues/issue archive/issue pdfs/18 1/18.1 sketches.pdf. 

Crosby, Elizabeth Caroline 

1888 1983 
Neuroanatomist 

Education: B.S., Adrian College, 1910; M.S., University of Chicago, 1912, Ph.D., 
1915 



326 | Crosby, Elizabeth Caroline 

Professional Experience: principal and school superintendent, 1915-1920; 
instructor, anatomy, University of Michigan Medical School, 1920-1926, assistant 
to associate professor, anatomy, 1926-1936, professor, anatomy and consulting 
neurosurgeon, 1936-1960; professor emeritus, anatomy, University of Alabama, 
Birmingham, 1963-1983 

Elizabeth Crosby was recognized as one of the leading anatomists of her time. Her 
fields of research were neurobiology and neuroanatomy, or the anatomy of the 
brain, with a special focus on the brains of vertebrates. After completing her doc- 
torate at the University of Chicago, she worked as a public school administrator 
in Michigan before receiving an appointment as instructor at the University 
of Michigan. Over the course of her long career as a medical researcher, she 
co-authored several textbooks for neurosurgeons: A Laboratory Outline of Neurology 
(1918), The Comparative Anatomy of the Nervous System of Vertebrates, Including 
Man (1936), The Correlative Anatomy of the Nervous System (1962), and The 
Comparative Correlative Neuroanatomy of the Vertebrate Telencephalon (1982). 
She held many distinguished lectureships at the University of Pittsburgh, Yale Uni- 
versity, Mayo Clinic, Tulane University, and Emory University. After her retirement, 
she was an emeritus professor at both the University of Michigan and the 
University of Alabama, Birmingham, where she continued to direct the research of 
a new generation of neuroanatomists. She has been inducted into both the Michigan 
and Alabama Women's Hall of Fame. 

At the University of Michigan, Crosby rose steadily through the ranks to 
become the first woman to reach full professor at the Medical School. This was a 
significant accomplishment because she did not have a medical degree. Toward 
the end of her career, in 1958, she received an honorary M.D. from the University 
of Groningen in The Netherlands. She also received the Galen Award in 1956 for 
preclinical medical teaching and in 1979 was awarded the National Medal of Sci- 
ence under President Jimmy Carter. She received several awards in recognition for 
her studies on the comparative neurology of vertebrates and ultimately received 
nine honorary doctoral degrees, including from Smith College (1968), Woman's 
Medical College of Pennsylvania (1968), and the University of Michigan (1970). 

Further Resources 

Alabama Women's Hall of Fame. 2000. "Elizabeth Caroline Crosby (1888 1983)." http:// 
www.awhf.org/crosby.html. 



D 



Daly, Marie Maynard 



1921 2003 
Biochemist 

Education: B.S., Queens College, 1942; M.S., New York University, 1943; Ph.D., 
chemistry, Columbia University, 1948 

Professional Experience: instructor, physical sciences, Howard University, 
1947-1948; visiting investigator and assistant, general physiology, Rockefeller 
Institute, 1951-1955; associate, biochemistry, Goldwater Memorial Hospital, 
Columbia University, 1955-1959; assistant professor, biochemistry, Columbia 
University, 1960-1971; associate professor, biochemistry and medicine, Albert 
Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, 1971-1986 

Concurrent Positions: American Cancer Society fellow, Rockefeller Institute, 
1948-1951; established investigator, American Heart Association, 1958-1963; 
career scientist, Health Research Council of New York, 1962-1972; Commission 
on Science and Technology, City of New York, 1986-1989 

Marie Daly was the first African American woman to receive a doctorate in chem- 
istry, and she is known for her research on the chemistry of the cell nucleus. She 
taught at Howard University for one year while she sought an American Cancer 
Society fellowship to conduct research at Rockefeller Institute. At the Institute, 
she examined the ways in which proteins are constructed within the cells of the 
body, in particular the cell nucleus. In 1952, James Watson and Francis Crick 
described the structure of DNA, the spiral molecules that carry the genetic code 
of every living thing. Daly was fortunate that this breakthrough led to an immedi- 
ate increase in the scientific study of the chemistry of the cell nucleus. When her 
research team moved to Columbia University, they undertook a long series of stud- 
ies related to the underlying causes of heart attacks. She focused on the blockage 
of arteries that supply oxygen and nutrition to the heart muscle and discovered that 
cholesterol was part of the problem. She studied the effects of sugar and other 
dietary products on the health of the arteries. Daly also did pioneering work on 
the effects of cigarette smoke on the functioning of the lungs. She continued this 
project when the team moved to Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and she also 



327 



328 | Darden, Christine V. Mann 

taught courses in biochemistry to medical students. She focused her research on 
the breakdown of the circulatory system caused either by advanced age or by 
hypertension. She also studied the biochemical aspects of kidney function. 

Daly was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the American Heart Association. 
She was a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Society of 
Biological Chemists, and sat on the board of governors for the New York Academy 
of Science. She was also committed to increasing the presence of minorities in the 
sciences, was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People, and started a scholarship fund at Queens College in her father's 
memory to support minority students in physics and chemistry. 



Darden, Christine V. Mann 

b. 1942 

Aeronautical Engineer 

Education: B.S., mathematics, Hampton Institute, 1962; M.S., applied mathematics, 
Virginia State College, 1967; D.Sc, engineering, George Washington University, 1983 

Professional Experience: high school teacher, 1962-1965; research assistant, 
physics, Virginia State College, 1965-1966, instructor, mathematics, 1966-1967; 
data analyst, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Langley 
Research Center, 1967-1973; aerospace engineer, NASA, 1973-1989; leader, 
Sonic Boom Team, NASA, 1989-1994; deputy program manager, high speed 
research, NASA/Langley Research Center, 1994-1999; senior project engineer, 
Advanced Vehicles Division, 1999-2001; director, Aeroperforming Program, 
2002-2003; director, Office of Communication and Education, NASA, 2004-2007 

Concurrent Positions: management trainee, Senior Executive Career Develop- 
ment Fellowship, Simmons College, Boston, 1994-1995 

Christine Darden is recognized as an expert on the effects of sonic booms or shock 
waves and the creator of a computer software program that is used across the 
United States for simulating a sonic boom in a wind tunnel. Other engineers at 
NASA were building models of aircraft to test them in wind tunnels, but Darden's 
computer program simulated the sound wave with the same results. The computer 
program was less expensive and more efficient, and Darden was promoted to 
leader of the Sonic Boom Team. One area of her research was to redesign the 
supersonic transport (SST) airplane to change the shape of the wing and to blunt 
the nose to minimize the sonic boom. Later, the federal government decided not 



Daubechies, Ingrid | 329 

to invest in the SST because of its expense, but the NASA project continued 
because military aircraft sometimes reach supersonic speeds as they fly across 
populated areas. U.S. federal regulations specify that the Concorde, built by the 
French and the British, cannot reach supersonic speeds in populated areas, so those 
planes do not fly in the United States because of the financial considerations of 
flying at lower speeds. Darden also led research into the environmental impact of 
supersonic flights, such as the effect on the ozone layer of the atmosphere. 

Darden's early interest in mathematics led her to teach high school math and then 
to studying math and physics in graduate school. She studied mathematics at the his- 
torically black Hampton Institute and, at Virginia State College, secured a research 
assistantship in the physics department on a project analyzing air quality and deter- 
mining the presence of specific kinds of pollutants. After receiving her master's 
degree, she obtained a job at NASA as a data analyst doing very routine calculations 
for the engineers. As the research became more computer-oriented, she wrote soft- 
ware programs for the engineers and started taking doctorate-level classes in both 
mathematics and engineering science. After successfully completing a difficult fluid 
mechanics course, she enrolled in the engineering program at George Washington 
University, where she received her Ph.D. in 1983. At the time, there were few black 
men and very few women of any race in engineering. 

Darden is a member of the National Technical Association (NTA) and the American 
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Her awards and honors include the 
A. T. Weathers Technical Achievement Award of the NTA (1985), the Candace 
Award for Science and Technology of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women 
(1987), and being named Black Engineer of the Year in Government by the Mobil Oil 
Council of Engineering Deans (1988). She also received NASA Certificates of 
Outstanding Performance from the Langley Research Center in 1989, 1991, and 
1992. Darden is active in her church community and was ordained as an elder in 
the Presbyterian church in 1980. 

Further Resources 

Warren, Wini. 1999. Black Women Scientists in the United States. Bloomington: Indiana 
University Press. 



Daubechies, Ingrid 

b. 1954 
Mathematician 

Education: B.S., physics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, 1975, Ph.D., physics, 
1980 



330 | Daubechies, Ingrid 




Professional Experience: research 
assistant, theoretical physics, Vrije 
Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, 1975- 
1984, research professor, 1984-1987; 
technical staff member, Mathematics 
Research Center, AT&T Bell Labora- 
tories, 1987-1994; professor, math- 
ematics and Program in Applied and 
Computational Mathematics, Prince- 
ton University, 1994-2004, director, 
Program in Applied and Computa- 
tional Mathematics, 1997-2001, 
William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor, 
Princeton University, 2004- 

Concurrent Positions: visiting pro- 
fessor, University of Michigan, 1990; 
professor, mathematics, Rutgers Uni- 
versity, 1991-1993 



Mathematician Ingrid Daubechies. (Princeton 
University, Office of Communications, Brian 
Wilson) 



Ingrid Daubechies is an applied math- 
ematician and theoretical physicist 
who specializes in time-frequency 
analysis and the construction of wavelets, which are used for data compression in 
applications such as digital image processing. Daubechies was born in Belgium 
and received her doctorate in physics from Vrije Universiteit (Free University) 
Brussels in 1980. She remained on as a researcher and faculty member in theoretical 
physics at Free University until relocating to the United States for a position with 
AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1987. She joined the faculty of mathematics at Princeton 
University in 1994 and served as director of the Program in Applied and Computa- 
tional Mathematics for four years. 

Daubechies was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1998 and is a 
fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Electri- 
cal and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Mathematical 
Society, Mathematical Association of America, and Society for Industrial and 
Applied Mathematics. She was named the Josiah Willard Gibbs Lecturer of the 
American Mathematical Society (2005) and was the prestigious Emmy Noether 
Lecturer (2006). She has received numerous other honors and awards for her work, 
including a five-year Mac Arthur Foundation "genius" grant (1992-1997) and the 



Davis, Margaret Bryan | 331 

American Mathematical Society Steele Prize for Exposition (1994) for her book 
Ten Lectures on Wavelets. She also received the Louis Empain Prize for Physics 
for a young Belgian scientist (1984), the American Mathematical Society Ruth 
Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics (1997), the International Society for Optical 
Engineering Recognition of Outstanding Achievement (1998), the IEEE Informa- 
tion Theory Society Golden Jubilee Award for Technological Innovation (1998), 
the Eduard Rhein Foundation Basic Research Award (2000), the Gold Medal 
(Gouden Penning) of the Flemish Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, Belgium 
(2005), and the Pioneer Prize from the International Council for Industrial and 
Applied Mathematics (2008; co-recipient). In 2000 she was the first woman to 
receive the National Academy of Sciences Award in Mathematics. She has 
received honorary doctorates from universities in Belgium, Switzerland, France, 
and Italy. 

Further Resources 

Case, Bettye Anne and Anne Leggett, eds. 2005. Complexities: Women in Mathematics. 
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 

Agnes Scott College. "Ingrid Daubechies." Biographies of Women Mathematicians, http:// 
www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/daub.htm. 

Princeton University. Faculty website, http://www.pacm.princeton.edu/~ingrid/. 



Davis, Margaret Bryan 

b. 1931 

Paleoecologist, Palynologist, Ecologist 

Education: B.A., Radcliffe College, 1953; Ph.D., biology, Harvard University, 
1957 

Professional Experience: fellow, biology, Harvard University, 1957-1958; 
fellow, geoscience, California Institute of Technology, 1959-1960; research 
fellow, zoology, Yale University, 1960-1961; research associate, botany, Univer- 
sity of Michigan, 1961-1964, associate research biologist, Great Lakes Research 
Division, 1964-1970, associate professor, zoology, 1966-1970, research biologist, 
Great Lakes Research Division and professor, zoology, 1970-1973; professor, 
biology, Yale University, 1973-1976; professor, ecology and head, Department 
of Ecology and Behavioral Biology, University of Minnesota, 1976-1981, professor, 
1981-1983, Regents Professor, Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, 1983- 



332 | Davis, Margaret Bryan 




Paleoecologist, palynologist and ecologist, 
Margaret Bryan Davis. (Courtesy of the 
University of Minnesota) 



Margaret Davis is a distinguished pale- 
oecologist who is renowned for her 
analysis of ancient pollen to determine 
trends in plant growth and migration. 
Palynology is the study of pollen from 
ancient plants, and as an undergraduate 
at Radcliffe, she took a course on 
paleobotany and became intrigued by 
the vegetational history of the late 
Quaternary period, some 10,000 years 
ago. She believed that the best method 
to understand and interpret the history 
of ancient plant life is to understand 
the physiology and ecology of flora (or 
plants) rather than just the stratigraphic 
interpretation of pollen records. She 
received a Fulbright fellowship to study 
in Greenland, where she recorded plant 
pollen deposited during the interglacial 
period. 



Davis later focused on geology and studied the relationship between pollen in 
lake sediments and vegetation composition in order to enhance the precision of 
pollen records for describing past vegetation. In 1963, she attracted international 
attention with a paper published in the American Journal of Science on her theory 
of pollen analysis. Davis also compiled maps for eastern North America depicting 
the migration of various species of trees during the past 14,000 years. Her maps 
indicate that the temperate-forest trees moved at different rates and in different 
directions. Her work has implications for the current debate over global warming, 
and she predicted in 1989 that, in the next 100 years, sugar maple trees will disap- 
pear across the southern edge of their current range in the middle of the country 
and will shift eastward in Minnesota. Beech trees will disappear from the United 
States except in northernmost Maine, and scattered blocks of growth will open 
up in Canada. 

Davis was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences in 1982. 
She has also served on numerous committees, such as on the International Union 
of Quaternary Research of the National Academy of Sciences and the National 
Research Council (1966-), as a delegate of the National Academy of Sciences to 
the International Union of Quaternary Research Congress (1969, 1973, 1977, 
and 1982), and as a member of the advisory panel for geological records of global 
changes of the National Science Foundation (198 1— ). She is a fellow of the 



Davis, Ruth Margaret | 333 

Geological Society of America and of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science. She is a member of the American Quaternary Association 
(president, 1978-1980), American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Eco- 
logical Society of America (president, 1987-1988), and International Society for 
Vegetative Science. In 1993, she was awarded the Nevada Medal for "unlocking 
the history of environmental change and using it to understand present and future 
shifts in plant and animal communities." 

Further Resources 

University of Minnesota. Faculty website, http://www.cbs.umn.edu/eeb/faculty/ 
DavisMargaret/. 



Davis, Ruth Margaret 

b. 1928 

Computer Scientist, Mathematician 

Education: B.A., American University, 1950; M.A., University of Maryland, 
1952, Ph.D., mathematics, 1955 

Professional Experience: mathematician, U.S. National Bureau of Standards, 
1950; research associate, Institute of Fluid Dynamics and Applied Mathematics, 
University of Maryland, 1952-1955; mathematician, David Taylor Model 
Basin, 1955-1958, head, Operations Research Division, 1957-1961; staff assistant, 
Office of the Special Assistant for Intelligence and Reconnaissance, Office of the 
Director of Defense Research and Engineering, U.S. Department of Defense, 
1961-1967; associate director, Research and Development, National Library of 
Medicine, 1967-1968; director, Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Com- 
munications, 1968-1970; director, Center for Computer Science and Technology, 
National Bureau of Standards, 1970-1972; director, Institute for Computer Science 
and Technology, 1972-1977; Deputy to Secretary of Defense for Research and 
Engineering, U.S. Department of Defense, 1977-1979; Assistant Secretary for 
Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, 1979-1981; founder, president, and CEO, 
Pymatuning Group, Inc., 1981— 

Concurrent Positions: lecturer, University of Maryland, 1955-1956 and American 
University, 1957-1958; consultant, Office of Naval Research, 1957-1958; adjunct 
professor, engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 1981- 

Ruth Davis is a pioneer in computer science who is credited with programming 
three of the first digital computers— SE AC, ORDVAC, and UNIVAC I. She is also 



334 | DeFries, Ruth 

responsible for securing worldwide acceptance of a data encryption standard, ena- 
bling the United States to become a leader in robotics, and implementing a medi- 
cal literature retrieval system and a satellite hookup to link the sick in remote 
Alaska with doctors in the outside world. Her first two jobs involved working for 
the U.S. Navy in developing the first computer programs for nuclear reactor 
design. After receiving her undergraduate degree, she worked for the National 
Bureau of Standards before returning to school to complete her master's degree. 
Davis has since had a productive career working primarily in U.S. government 
positions before establishing her own company. 

Davis was later employed in the Office of the Director of Defense Research and 
Engineering, and then did pioneering research in information technology and 
indexing of medical articles for the National Library of Medicine between 1967 
and 1970. Davis was appointed director of the Institute of Computer Science and 
Technology at the National Bureau of Standards, where she developed standards 
for data encryption, or coding of data for computing. Working for the Department 
of Defense, she was involved in early work on robotics between 1977 and 1979. 
She concluded her government work as assistant secretary of resource applications 
for the Department of Energy. In 1981, she founded her own consulting firm, 
Pymatuning Group, Inc., in Virginia. 

Davis was the second woman to receive the "Man of the Year" award from the 
Data Processing Management Association (1966) — the first was the computer 
pioneer Grace Murray Hopper. Davis was elected to membership in the National 
Academy of Engineering in 1976. She has been a member of the board of directors 
of several companies, and received the Gold Medal of the Department of Commerce 
(1972), the Rockefeller Public Service Award for Professional Accomplishment 
and Leadership (1973), the National Civil Service League Award (1976), and the 
Ada Augusta Lovelace Award in Computer Science (1984). She is a fellow of 
the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Institute of 
Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Society for Information Display. She is a member 
of the American Mathematical Society, Mathematical Association of America, 
Council on Library Resources, and National Academy of Public Administration. 



DeFries, Ruth 

b. 1957 

Environmental Geographer 

Education: B.A., earth sciences, Washington University, 1976; Ph.D., geography 
and environmental engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 1980 



DeFries, Ruth | 335 

Professional Experience: hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 1979-1980; 
research associate, Environmental Science and Engineering Group, Indian 
Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, 1981-1983; senior project officer, 
Committee on Global Change, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 
1983-1992; associate research scientist, geography, University of Maryland, 
College Park, 1992-1999, associate professor, geography and Earth System Science 
Center, 1999-2005, professor, 2005-2008; Denning Professor of Sustainable 
Development, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, 
Columbia University, 2008- 

Concurrent Positions: visiting scientist, Carnegie Institution, Department of 
Plant Biology, Palo Alto, California, 1998 

Ruth DeFries is an environmental geographer whose research focuses on how 
human activities impact the Earth's landscape, ecosystems, and biodiversity, and 
on the habitability of the Earth. She has written dozens of papers and book chap- 
ters on topics related to the environmental consequences of human land use, agri- 
cultural food production, urbanization, and carbon emissions, including habitat 
loss, deforestation, and climate change. She has used satellite images to make 
global scientific observations that can impact policy decisions. DeFries studied 
earth sciences as an undergraduate and received her doctorate in geography and 
environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1980. She spent 
two years at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and worked for the 
U.S. National Research Council before joining the faculty at the University of 
Maryland in 1992. She held joint appointments in geography and the Earth System 
Science Interdisciplinary Center at the University of Maryland until 2008, and 
moved to Columbia University as professor of ecology, evolution, and environ- 
mental biology. 

DeFries has been a member of several government advisory boards, including the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Strategic Planning Com- 
mittee for Terrestrial Ecology Program (since 2001), the NASA Science Team for 
Land Use and Land Cover Change (since 1996), the Committee on Geography, 
Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, for the National Research Council 
(2001-2003), the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Center for Ecological 
Analysis and Synthesis (2001-2004), and a member of the International Satellite 
Land Surface Climatology Project (since 1999). She is also a fellow of the Aldo 
Leopold Leadership Program of the Ecological Society of America. 

DeFries was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2006. She is the 
recipient of a Performance Award of the National Research Council Commission 
on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources (1990), and in 2007 received a pres- 
tigious MacArthur "genius grant," a five-year $500,000 fellowship. 



336 | De Laguna, Frederica Annis 

Further Resources 

University of Maryland. Faculty website. http://www.geog.umd.edu/people/DeFries.html. 
Columbia University. Faculty website, http://www.columbia.edu/~rd2402/. 



De Laguna, Frederica Annis 

1906 2004 

Archaeologist, Anthropologist 

Education: B.A., Bryn Mawr College, 1927; Ph.D., anthropology, Columbia 
University, 1933 

Professional Experience: assistant and research associate, American section, 
University of Pennsylvania Museum, 1931-1935; associate soil conservationist, 
Pima Reservation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1935-1936; lecturer, Bryn 
Mawr College, 1938-1941, assistant professor to professor, 1941-1975 

Concurrent Positions: Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Naval Reserve, 1942-1945 

Frederica de Laguna was an archaeologist and anthropologist who led the first sur- 
vey of the Pacific Eskimo cultures. Both of her parents were philosophy teachers at 
Bryn Mawr, where she received her undergraduate degree. She went on to study 
under prominent pioneer of modern anthropology Franz Boas at Columbia Univer- 
sity, who encouraged her to study Arctic cultures. De Laguna received a European 
study fellowship from Bryn Mawr, studying in England and France before joining 
a six-month-long Danish expedition to Greenland in 1929 as an assistant in 
Eskimo archaeology, the first archaeological excavation of Greenland. De Laguna 
was part of the team that discovered a previously unknown Norse culture, the 
Inugsuk. She published The Archaeology of Cook Inlet, Alaska in 1934; it was 
deemed still relevant and reprinted more than 40 years later by the Alaska Historical 
Society. Among her other works is her three- volume masterpiece, Under Mount 
Saint Elias: The History and Culture of the Yakutat Tlingit (1972), also the subject 
of a 1997 documentary film, Reunion Under Mount Saint Elias. She later published 
a memoir of her first expedition, Voyage to Greenland (1977). 

De Laguna never married and, feeling she had to choose between her work and 
having a family, devoted herself to her career. Throughout the 1930s, she led 
anthropological expeditions to Alaska and the Yukon, primarily for the University 
of Pennsylvania Museum, as a research associate and expert on Eskimo and Pale- 
olithic art. She completed her Ph.D. at Columbia in 1933 and joined the faculty of 
Bryn Mawr College in 1938, where she established the Anthropology Department 



Delgado, Jane L. | 337 

and spent the remainder of her career. She rose through the ranks to full professor 
and secured funding for her work through grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, 
the Viking Fund, Inc., and the Danish government, among other sources. She 
served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1945. 
Her experience as an American in the Arctic region was invaluable during World 
War II, since most exploration had been conducted by the Danes and Norwegians. 
When Greenland and Alaska became strategic points in protecting mainland North 
America, her data and observations were used by the American and Canadian 
armed forces. 

She was one of the first fellows of the Arctic Institute of North America, served 
as president of the American Anthropological Association (1967), and was elected 
to membership in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1975, the same year 
as Margaret Mead. De Laguna and Mead were among the first generation of 
women to engage in professional field archaeology and were the first women 
anthropologists appointed to the NAS. When the federal government passed the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990), de Laguna was 
among those who saw the legislation, intended to protect burial sites and the rights 
of ancestors to cultural artifacts and human remains, as a setback for science. De 
Laguna also published mystery novels with anthropological themes. 

Further Resources 

Bryn Mawr Now. "Founder of BMC Anthropology Department Dies at 98." (21 October 
2004). http://www.brynmawr.edu/news/2004-10-21/delaguna.shtml. 

Gacs, Ute et al. 1988. Women Anthropologists: Selected Biographies. Westport, CT: 
Greenwood Press. 



Delgado, Jane L. 

b. 1953 
Psychologist 

Education: B.A., State University of New York at New Paltz, 1973; M.A., 
psychology, New York University, 1975; M.S., urban policy and sciences, 
W. Averell Harriman School, 1981; Ph.D., psychology, State University of New 
York at Stony Brook, 1981 

Professional Experience: clinical psychologist and children's talent coordinator, 
Children's Television Workshop, New York, 1973-1975; research assistant, State 
University of New York at Stony Brook, 1975-1979; staff member, Board of Co- 
operative Educational Services, Westbury, NY, 1977-1979; social science analyst, 



338 | Delgado, Jane L. 




Psychologist Jane L. Delgado has been 
president and chief executive officer of the 
National Alliance for Hispanic Health since 
1985. (AP/Wide World Photos) 



U.S. Department of Health and 
Human Services, 1979-1983, health 
policy advisor, 1983-1985; president 
and CEO, National Alliance for 
Hispanic Health, 1985- 

Concurrent Positions: psychologist, 
private practice, 1979- 

Jane Delgado is the president and 
chief executive officer of the only 
national organization that focuses on 
the improvement of health and human 
services for the nation's Hispanic 
population. The National Coalition 
of Hispanic Health and Human 
Services Organizations (now known 
as the National Alliance for Hispanic 
Health) was founded in 1985. 
Delgado oversaw the first national 
outreach program to educate and 
inform Hispanics about AIDS and 
brought women's health and environ- 



mental health issues to the forefront of the organization. She is often called upon 
by Congress to provide the latest health statistics on Hispanics. In conjunction 
with the National Hispanic Women's Health Initiative, she published the first com- 
prehensive health book by and about Latinas, jSalud! A Latina's Guide to Total 
Health — Body, Mind, and Spirit (1997, rev. ed. 2002), available in both English 
and Spanish. 

Delgado's family emigrated from Cuba to New York when she was just two years 
old. Although she had little knowledge of English when she entered kindergarten, 
she learned quickly and accelerated her studies, graduating from college by age 19. 
She began a master's degree program at New York University in social and person- 
ality psychology, and financed her studies by working as the children's talent 
coordinator for the television show Sesame Street. In this position, she developed a 
test to determine which children had good television personalities and initiated 
a movement to include handicapped children on the show. While in graduate school, 
she also worked as an instructor and consultant providing psychological and educa- 
tional services for bilingual children, their parents, teachers, and school officials. She 
directed a three-year study focusing on language development as a predictor of 



Delmer, Deborah | 339 

learning disabilities in children, simultaneously earning a doctorate in clinical 
psychology and a master's degree in urban policy and sciences. 

Delgado went on to a position with the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services, where she managed projects concerning Hispanics, black colleges, and 
undocumented workers, and gained experience advising on health policy issues 
and dealing with officials at the federal, state, and local levels. She brought this 
experience to her later position as president of the National Alliance for Hispanic 
Health, a group founded by health professionals concerned about the healthcare 
issues, costs, and insurance needs of more than 45 million Hispanic Americans 
in the United States and Puerto Rico. Delgado has also served as advisor for 
numerous committees and community organizations, especially related to patient 
and consumer rights and safety. She was a member of the National Advisory 
Council for Mrs. Rosalyn Carter's Task Force on Mental Health, Robert Wood 
Johnson's National Advisory Committee on Hospice and Palliative Care, and the 
Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Act Advisory Council. She has 
received many awards and honors, including the Surgeon General's Award 
(1992), the Community Leadership Award of the Puerto Rican Family Institute 
(1996), and the Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award of the National 
Consumer League (2003). 

Further Resources 

National Alliance for Hispanic Health, http://www.hispanichealth.org/. 



Delmer, Deborah 

b. 1941 

Plant Biologist 

Education: B.A., bacteriology, Indiana University, 1963; Ph.D., cellular biology, 
University of California, San Diego, 1968 

Professional Experience: postdoctoral fellow, University of California, 
San Diego, and University of Colorado, Boulder, 1968-1974; assistant to associate 
professor, Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, 1974-1982; 
principal scientist, ARCO Plant Cell Research Institute, California, 1982-1986; 
professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1987-1997; professor, plant biology, 
University of California, Davis, 1997-2001 ; Associate Director for Food Security, 



340 | Delmer, Deborah 

Rockefeller Foundation, New York City, 2002-2007; program director, BREAD, 
2009- 

Deborah Delmer is a plant biologist and biochemist whose research has been 
applied to agricultural and crop improvement related to international develop- 
ment. She was a science and policy advisor on food security at the Rockefeller 
Foundation, where she researched and advised on issues facing African farmers, 
such as poor soil quality, drought, pests, and plant diseases, and supported crop 
improvement initiatives specific to the developing world. Before joining the Rock- 
efeller Foundation and working on grant and policy issues in global agriculture, 
she had a long career in research and academia and taught at Michigan State Uni- 
versity, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and the University of California, Davis. 
Her primary research was in cellular biology and plant biochemistry. 

Delmer studied microbiology and bacteriology as an undergraduate at Indiana 
University and went on to graduate study in marine biology at Scripps Institution 
of Oceanography in California. She decided against marine biology and ocean 
travel after becoming seasick and switched to the biology program at the Univer- 
sity of California, San Diego. She worked with a professor on a plant tissue culture 
project and became interested in plant biochemistry, receiving her Ph.D. in cellular 
biology in 1968. She held postdoctoral fellowships at UCSD and at the University 
of Colorado, Boulder before joining the faculty at Michigan State University's 
Plant Research Laboratory in 1974, where her research focused on how plants syn- 
thesize cellulose. She began working on a project in developing world agriculture 
that resulted in a major move to Jerusalem in 1987 to accept a position at Hebrew 
University. She spent 10 years in Jerusalem before returning to the United States 
and a position at the University of California, Davis. She left academia to join 
the Rockefeller Foundation. She retired from her Rockefeller position in 2007 
and continues to consult on issues related to developing world agriculture, includ- 
ing as program director for BREAD (Basic Research to Enable Agricultural 
Development), a project funded by the National Science Foundation and the Bill 
& Melinda Gates Foundation to support small farmers in the developing world. 

Delmer was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2004. She is a 
member of the American Society of Plant Biologists (president, 1999-2000). 
She received the Anselme Payen Award from the American Chemical Society 
(2004). 

Further Resources 

Zagorski, Nick. 2005. "Profile of Deborah P. Delmer." Proceedings of the National Academy 
of Sciences. 102(44): 15736 15738. (1 November 2005). http://www.pnas.org/cgi/ 
content/fuU/102/44/15736. 



De Planque, E. Gail | 341 

De Planque, E. Gail 

b. 1945 
Physicist 

Education: B.A., mathematics, Immaculata College, 1967; M.S., Newark College 
of Engineering, 1973; Ph.D., physics, New York University, 1983 

Professional Experience: physicist, Atomic Energy Commission, 1967-1982; 
deputy director, Environmental Measurements Laboratory, U.S. Department of 
Energy, 1982-1987, director, 1987-1991; member, Nuclear Regulatory Commis- 
sion, 1991-1995; consultant, 1995- 

Concurrent Positions: chair, American National Standards Institute, Health Physics 
Society, 1973-1975, 1980-; co-chair, Committee for International Intercomparison 
of Environmental Dosimeters, 1974-; U.S. expert delegate, international committee 
for Development of an International Standard on Thermoluminescence Dosimetry, 
ca. 1977 

Gail De Planque is a renowned expert on radiation, problems of radiation protection, 
environmental radiation, and nuclear facilities monitoring. After receiving her 
undergraduate degree in mathematics, de Planque obtained a position as a research 
physicist with the Radiation Physics Division of what is now the Department of 
Energy. She was appointed deputy director in 1982 of the Environmental Measure- 
ments Laboratory and director in 1987. The Environmental Measurements Labora- 
tory is a direct descendant of the Manhattan Project and is particularly famous for 
its long-standing global radiation fallout programs as well as research on radiation 
dosimetry, radon, and radiation problems associated with nuclear facilities and 
weapons testing. As director, she was responsible for the guidance, direction, and 
management of the programs, activities, budget, and administrative functions of 
the laboratory. She currently works as an independent consultant. 

In 1997, de Planque was selected to chair the planning committee for a series of 
conferences to encourage women to become engineers. The project, called Celebra- 
tion of Women in Engineering, included establishing an educational outreach 
website called EngineerGirl to encourage engineering as a career choice for young 
women, and organizing a 1999 conference on the status of women in engineering. 
According to NAE data, only 9% of engineers are women, even though women 
receive as many as 20% of undergraduate engineering degrees. Her other profes- 
sional activities have included extensive participation in standards management 
and development both nationally and internationally. She is a member of the 
National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements and was chair of an 
International Atomic Energy Agency international advisory committee to study the 



342 | Densen-Gerber, Judianne 

radiological situation on the Mururoa and Fangataufa Atolls, the site of French 
nuclear weapons testing in the South Pacific. She was the U.S. expert delegate to a 
standards committee to develop an international standard on thermoluminescence 
dosimetry and a member of the visiting committee for the Department of Advanced 
Technology of the Brookhaven National Laboratory. She has served on the editorial 
board of Radiation Protection Dosimetry and on the scientific advisory and editorial 
committees of the series International Conferences on Solid-State Dosimetry. 

De Planque was elected a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for 
the term 1991-1995 and elected to membership in the National Academy of Engi- 
neering in 1995. She was elected a fellow of the American Nuclear Society and is 
a member of the American Physical Society, Association of Women in Science, 
Health Physics Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence. In 2003, she received the Henry DeWolf Smyth Statesman Award of the 
Nuclear Energy Institute, and in 2004, she was inducted into the Women in Tech- 
nology International (WITI) Hall of Fame. 

Further Resources 

EngineerGirl. http://www.engineergirl.org/. 

Women in Technology International Hall of Fame. "Honorable E. Gail de Planque, Ph.D." 
http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/2004/gdeplanque.php. 



Densen-Gerber, Judianne 

1934 2003 
Psychiatrist, Physician 

Education: B.A., Bryn Mawr College, 1956; L.L.B., Columbia University, 1959, 
J.D., 1969; M.D., New York University, 1963 

Professional Experience: psychiatric resident, Bellevue Hospital, New York City, 
1964-1965, Metropolitan Hospital, 1965-1967; staff member, Addiction Services 
Agency, 1966-1967; founder, Odyssey House, 1966, researcher and clinical direc- 
tor, 1967-1969, executive director, 1967-1983 

Judianne Densen-Gerber was a psychiatrist known for her pioneering work in 
drug rehabilitation. She was also a practicing lawyer and an activist who took up 
serious social and legal issues, such as child pornography. She received her law 
degree with the intention of combining it with a medical degree so she could teach 
medical jurisprudence. However, when her second child died a week after birth, 
the resulting acute mental stress impelled her to change to psychiatry. She was in 



DeWitt-Morette, Cecile Andree Paule | 343 

her residency at Metropolitan Hospital in the mid-1960s and pregnant with her 
third child when she was working in the drug research unit. When some of her 
patients decided they wanted to quit using an experimental heroin substitute, the 
hospital administrators feared their research might be jeopardized and removed 
her from the drug addiction ward. Later, the patients asked her to continue to help 
them become drug-free, and she founded Odyssey House. 

Densen-Gerber theorized that the root cause of drug addiction was psychological, 
stemming from the individual's sense of hopelessness and lack of self-confidence, 
and could be addressed in group therapy. Although the communal rehabilitation set- 
ting, and preparing the individual to return to normal life, is now standard treatment, 
it was controversial in the 1960s and subject to a great deal of criticism. When the 
New York State Department of Social Welfare would not allow Odyssey House to 
admit anyone under the age of 16, Densen-Gerber pointed out the large number of 
teenagers who died from heroin overdoses and launched a local and national cam- 
paign to obtain funding for a separate juvenile program, which she established in 
1971. She continued to receive criticism and harassment from city officials, how- 
ever, and resigned as head of Odyssey House in 1983. She continued to work as a 
visiting physician, adjunct professor of law, and consultant. 

Densen-Gerber embraced other controversial causes as well. Her work with 
juvenile addicts drew her attention to the needs of sexually abused children, and 
she helped write the federal legislation that created the National Center on Child 
Abuse and Neglect in 1973. She testified on the problem of child pornography 
before Congress, and also proposed the legalization of marijuana to enable author- 
ities to concentrate on more serious problems, such as heroin addiction. She sup- 
ported legalization of prostitution for the protection of the women involved. She 
authored or co-authored several books, including Drugs, Sex, Parents, and You 
(1972), Child Abuse and Neglect as Related to Parental Drug Abuse and Other 
Antisocial Behavior (1978), Walk in My Shoes: An Odyssey into Womanlife 
(1976), and We Mainline Dreams: The Odyssey House Story (1973). She was a 
member of the American Medical Association, Society of Medical Jurisprudence, 
and American Psychiatric Association. 



DeWitt-Morette, Cecile Andree Paule 

b. 1922 
Theoretical Physicist 

Education: licence es sciences, University of Caen, 1943; diploma, University of 
Paris, 1944, Ph.D., theoretical physics, 1947 



344 | DeWitt-Morette, Cecile Andree Paule 

Professional Experience: member, Institute for Advanced Studies, Ireland, 
1946-1947; member, University Institute for Theoretical Physics, Copenhagen, 
1947-1948; member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, 1948-1950; 
teacher and researcher, Institut Henri Poincare, France, 1950-1951; research 
associate and lecturer, University of California, Berkeley, 1952-1955; visiting 
research professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1956-1967, direc- 
tor, Institute of Field Physics, 1958-1966, lecturer, physics, 1967-1971; professor, 
astronomy, University of Texas, Austin, 1972-1983, professor, physics, 
1983-1993, Jane and Roland Blumberg Centennial Professor of Physics, 1993-, 
professor emerita 

Concurrent Positions: visiting professor, Centro de Pesquisa Fisicas, Rio de 
Janeiro, 1949; director and founder, Summer School of Theoretical Physics, Les 
Houches, France, 1951-1972; visiting professor: Indian Institute of Science, 
Bangalore, 1977; Z.I.F. Universitat Bielefeld, 1984; Imperial College, London, 
1985; University of Warwick, 1985; Universidade da Madeira, 1991 

Cecile DeWitt-Morette is an internationally renowned theoretical physicist whose 
research includes the theory of field elementary particles, mathematical physics, 
and gravitation. She updated and stabilized physics education in France by found- 
ing a summer school of theoretical physics beginning in 1951 with a distinguished 
and international team of lecturers. L'Ecole de Physique des Houches has been the 
model for similar programs initiated, with her assistance, in Varenna, Italy, and in 
the United States as the Battelle Rencontres in Seattle. 

She was born in France and was attending college during the World War II 
German occupation of France. She studied physics, first at the University of Caen 
and then at the University of Paris, where she worked in a laboratory directed by 
Nobel Prize recipients Frederic Joliot and Irene Joliot-Curie. With the assistance 
of the Joliots and the Allied military authorities, she went to study in England in 
1946, and then spent a year in Ireland. After receiving her doctorate from the Uni- 
versity of Paris, she became a member of the University Institute for Theoretical 
Physics in Copenhagen for a year, and then was invited to the Institute for 
Advanced Study at Princeton for two years. In these assignments, she was able 
to meet and learn from most of the top theoretical physicists in the world at that 
time, including Richard P. Feynman. Also at Princeton she met her future husband, 
fellow physicist Bryce S. DeWitt, and they were married in 1951. That same 
year, she received funding from the French Ministry of Education to start 
the summer school of theoretical physics in the city of Les Houches, which she 
directed until 1972. 

She and her husband obtained positions at the University of California, Berkeley 
and then the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Anti-nepotism rules 



Diamond, Marian Cleeves | 345 

prevented her from obtaining a tenured position even though she had an international 
reputation and had been a director of a science institute. In 1972, the couple moved 
to the University of Texas, Austin, where they both were given tenured positions as 
full professors. Cecile was initially assigned to the astronomy department owing to 
fears of nepotism, but the couple continued to collaborate on research and, in 
1983, she moved to the physics department. 

Dewitt-Morette authored or co-authored several papers and important textbooks 
on the interplay between physics and mathematics. She received from the French 
government the Chevalier Ordre National Du Merite (1981) for establishing Les 
Houches, and she has also received the L' Ordre des Palmes Academiques (1991) 
and the Prix du Rayonnement Francais (1992). She was elected a fellow of the 
American Physical Society, and she is a member of the European Physical Society. 



Diamond, Marian Cleeves 

b. 1926 
Neuroscientist 

Education: B.A., biology, University of California, Berkeley, 1948; Certificate of 
Courses, University of Oslo, Norway, 1948; M.A., University of California, 
Berkeley, 1949, Ph.D., anatomy, 1953 

Professional Experience: research assistant, Harvard University, 1952-1953; 
instructor, Cornell University, 1955-1958; lecturer, gross anatomy and neuroanat- 
omy, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 1958-1960; 
lecturer, University of California, Berkeley, 1960-1965, assistant professor, 
anatomy and neuroanatomy, 1965-1974, professor, 1974- 

Concurrent Positions: assistant to associate dean, College of Letters and Science, 
University of California, Berkeley, 1967-1972; director, Lawrence Hall of Sci- 
ence, University of California, Berkeley, 1990-1996; Governor's Board, Rand 
Graduate School, 1985-1996 

Marian Cleeves Diamond is a neuroscientist who studies physical changes in the 
cerebral cortex area of the brain. She has shown how the cerebral cortex can be 
changed, positively or negatively, depending on emotions or mental state and on 
environmental conditions such as diet, exercise, and age. Her research has also 
shown that, while there are some structural differences between the male and 
female brains, the individual cortex can be altered and so is not fixed according 
to sex. Diamond is an affiliated faculty member with both the University of 



346 | Diamond, Marian Cleeves 

Berkeley and the University of San Francisco. Her privately funded project, 
Enrichment in Action, combines her neurological research with a humanitarian 
educational project at a Cambodian orphanage where she and her colleagues are 
attempting to improve the children's brain health and future prospects through 
dietary changes and physical and mental exercise. She has been an invited lecturer 
at institutions around the world and is the author of over 150 scientific papers and 
several books, including Magic Trees of the Mind: How to Nurture Your Child's 
Intelligence (1999). 

Diamond was born in Glendale, California. Her father was a physician, and she 
remembers seeing a human brain for the first time in a hospital laboratory when 
she was still in high school. She attended a local community college, where she 
first took an anatomy course, before transferring to the University of California, 
Berkeley, where she completed both her undergraduate and graduate education. 
She studied neuroanatomy with students enrolled in the medical program and 
earned a master's degree in anatomy with a study on pain patterns and sensations. 
In 1953, she was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in anatomy at Berkeley. 
Although she spent a few years on the East Coast, at Harvard (where her husband, 
a nuclear chemist, had an appointment) and as an instructor at Cornell University 
in New York, she returned to California as a lecturer at the University of California, 
San Francisco medical school and then returning to Berkeley as a lecturer in 1960. 
Between 1953 and 1962, she also gave birth to four children, the first of these the 
same month she received her doctorate. She took a tenure-track position in anatomy 
and neuroanatomy at Berkeley and advanced to full professor by 1974, where she 
remains on the faculty of the Department of Integrative Biology. In the 1990s, 
she spent five years as director of the Lawrence Hall of Science at Berkeley, where 
she developed exhibits about brains for the public. 

Diamond is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence and the California Academy of Sciences, and was named Alumna of the Year 
from the California Alumni Association. She has received numerous awards for 
her teaching, including California Professor of the Year by the Council for 
Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She was named a Distinguished 
Senior Woman Scholar by the American Association of University Women, and 
has received the California Biomedical Research Association Distinguished 
Service Award, a University Medal of La Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, 
Venezuela, a Brazilian Gold Medal of Honor, and the Benjamin Ide Wheeler 
Service Award. 

Further Resources 

University of California, Berkeley. Faculty website, http://ib.berkeley.edu/research/interests/ 
research profile.php?person=57. 



Dicciani, Nance Katherine | 347 

Squire, Larry R., ed. 2006. The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography. Vol. 6. Society 
for Neuroscience. San Diego, CA: Academic Press (Harcourt). 

"Enrichment in Action." http://www.newhorizons.org/neuro/diamond cambodia.htm. 



Dicciani, Nance Katherine 

b. 1947 

Chemical Engineer 

Education: B.S., Villanova University, 1969; M.S., University ofVirginia, 1970; 
Ph.D., chemical engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 1977, M.B.A., 1986 

Professional Experience: superintendent of water treatment, City of Philadelphia, 
1972-1974; research engineer, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., 1977-1978, 
research manager, 1978-1981, director of research, process systems, 1981-1984, 
division director of research and development, 1984-1986, division general 
manager, 1986-1988, director of commercial development, 1988-1991; vice 
president and business director, Petroleum Chemicals Division, Rohm and 
Haas Company, 1991-2002; president and CEO, Specialty Materials Division, 
Honeywell, 2002- 

Nance Dicciani has been at the forefront of medical engineering research, making 
contributions to the application of new technologies in the areas of petrochemi- 
cals, energy, chemical processes, wastewater treatment, and catalysis of the pro- 
duction of commercially important petrochemicals. While still in graduate 
school, she explored new areas of applying chemical engineering to medical imag- 
ing; the result was a pioneering effort in developing the ultrasonic scanning devi- 
ces that now are used routinely to examine women during pregnancy. As early as 
the fifth grade, she planned a career in the sciences, and she pursued an under- 
graduate degree in chemical engineering because that allowed her to combine 
her love for mathematics with a deep interest in the hard sciences, especially 
physics and chemistry. After receiving her master's degree in chemical engineering, 
she worked for the Philadelphia Department of Public Works, serving three years 
as the city's superintendent of water treatment. She returned to graduate school 
at the University of Pennsylvania in the application of chemical engineering to 
medical imaging as part of a joint research project by the university, the National 
Science Foundation, and the government of the Soviet Union. She later returned 
to the University of Pennsylvania to receive an M.B.A. from Wharton Business 
School. Her dual background in science and business allowed her to rise rapidly 
through the ranks in corporate industry positions. In 2002, she was named 



348 | Dick, Gladys Rowena Henry 

President and CEO of Specialty Materials at Honeywell, where she oversees pro- 
duction of a variety of consumer and industry chemical products. 

Dicciani has also actively supported science education by serving as a member of 
the chemical engineering advisory boards at both the University of Virginia and the 
University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the American Institute of Chemical 
Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers, and the former vice president of the 
Society of Chemical Industry. In 2006, she was appointed to the President's Council 
of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and in 2007 received the Distin- 
guished Leadership Award from the American Chemistry Council. 



Dick, Gladys Rowena Henry 

1881 1963 
Microbiologist, Physician 

Education: B.S., University of Nebraska, 1900; M.D., Johns Hopkins University, 
1907; University of Berlin, 1910 

Professional Experience: school teacher, 1900-1901; physician, 1907-1909; 
researcher, University of Chicago, 1911-1953 

Gladys Dick and her husband, George Dick, were celebrated for their joint research 
on the prevention and treatment of scarlet fever. In 1923, they proved that the hemo- 
lytic streptococci was the causative agent. They developed the "Dick test," a skin test 
to indicate susceptibility to or immunity from scarlet fever. The test involved injec- 
tion of a solution into the arm; development of a local redness of the skin indicated 
susceptibility. The test also was applied to pregnant women as an indication of their 
likelihood of developing puerperal infection. The Dicks were contenders for the 
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1925, but no prize was awarded that year. 
At that time, scarlet fever was endemic to North America and Europe; it struck chil- 
dren, causing crippling complications and a mortality rate of up to 25%. The couple 
took the unprecedented action of patenting their methods of toxin and antitoxin 
preparation in order to protect the quality of the preparations. In the late 1920s, they 
won a lengthy lawsuit against one company for patent infringement and improper 
toxin manufacture. The antibiotics that were developed during World War II super- 
seded the use of their test; however, the significance of their research cannot be over- 
looked even today. Gladys later conducted research on polio. 

After she received her undergraduate degree in 1900, Gladys spent three years 
persuading her mother to allow her to enroll in medical school. She taught high 
school biology for one year and enrolled in graduate courses at the University of 



Donnay, Gabrielle (Hamburger) | 349 



Nebraska. During her internship at 
Johns Hopkins, she was involved in 
research on experimental cardiac sur- 
gery and blood chemistry. She met 
her future husband and collaborator 
while working at the University of 
Chicago. After a short time in private 
practice as a physician, she joined her 
husband at the McCormick Memorial 
Institute for Infectious Diseases. She 
and her husband received the Cameron 
Prize of the University of Edinburgh in 
1933 and the Mickel Prize from the 
University of Toronto in 1926. She 
was co-author of the book Scarlet 
Fever (1938). She received an honorary 
degree from the University of Nebraska 
in 1925 and from Northwestern Uni- 
versity in 1928. 




Microbiologist and physician Gladys Dick. In 
the 1920s, Dick co-developed a vaccine for 
scarlet fever with her husband, George F. 
Dick. (National Library of Medicine) 



Donnay, Gabrielle (Hamburger) 



1 920 1 987 
Geologist, Mineralogist 

Education: B.A., chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 1941; Ph.D., 
crystallography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1949 

Professional Experience: laboratory chemist, Massachusetts General Hospital, 
Boston, 1944-1945; staff member, Division of Industrial Cooperation, Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology (MIT), 1945-1946; postdoctoral fellow, Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, 1949-1950; crystallographer, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution 
of Washington, 1950-1969; professor, crystallography, Department of Geological 
Sciences, McGill University, Canada, 1970-1981 

Concurrent Positions: researcher, U.S. Geological Survey, 1952-1955; guest 
scientist, Johns Hopkins University 

Gabrielle "Gai" Donnay was a geologist and mineralogist and the first woman to 
receive a doctorate specifically in crystallography, earning her degree from MIT in 



350 | Downey, June Etta 

1949 with a thesis on the structure of tourmaline. That same year she married Jose 
D. H. Donnay, a professor of crystallography and mineralogy at Johns Hopkins 
University with whom she collaborated on dozens of projects and scientific papers 
for nearly four decades. The Donnays were internationally renowned crystallogra- 
phers and catalogers in the rapidly expanding field of crystallographic research, 
publishing two editions of Crystal Data (1954 and 1963) for use by scientists. In 
addition to her numerous scientific papers, in 1969 she compiled a history of the first 
50 years of the Carnegie Institution program in geology entitled Crystallography: 
Fifty Years ofX-Ray Crystallography at the Geophysical Laboratory, 1919-1969. 
A mineral, Gaidonnayite, is named for her. 

Gai Hamburger was born and received her early education in Germany. She passed 
the examinations to attend the University of Oxford but immigrated to the United 
States instead, enrolling at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 
1937. She was already interested in the structure of crystals as an undergraduate 
and received her bachelor's degree in chemistry with highest honors from UCLA in 
1941 . She worked briefly as a blood analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital before 
enrolling in graduate study in crystallography at MIT, using photographic methods to 
research the structure of minerals and crystal chemistry. Her research career was sub- 
sequently divided between U.S. and Canadian institutions. She held a postdoctoral 
fellowship at Johns Hopkins, and worked for three years with the U.S. Geological 
Survey (USGS), but otherwise she spent 20 years as a crystallographer in the 
Geophysical Laboratory at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C. She left 
Carnegie in 1970, after her husband retired from Johns Hopkins, and spent a decade 
as a professor of geological sciences at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She 
was a member of the National Committees for Crystallography in both countries 
and was the first woman named to the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars (1970). 

Further Resources 

Martin, Robert F. 1989. "Memorial of Gabrielle Donnay: March 21, 1920 April 4, 1987." 
American Mineralogist. 74:491 493. http://74.125. 155. 132/search?q=cache 
: VeJYJWWfGLcJ: www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM74/AM74 49 1 .pdf+gabrielle+donnay 
&cd= l&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us. 



Downey, June Etta 

1875 1932 
Psychologist 

Education: B.A., University of Wyoming, 1895; M.A., philosophy and psychology, 
University of Chicago, 1898, Ph.D., psychology, 1907 



Downey, June Etta | 351 

Professional Experience: instructor, English and philosophy, University of 
Wyoming, 1898-1905, professor, 1905-1915, professor, philosophy and psychology, 
1915-1932 

June Downey was the first woman to head a department of psychology in a state 
university, and she was honored for her development of one of the earliest scien- 
tific personality tests to assess character traits separate from the question of intel- 
ligence (popularly tested during her time with IQ tests). She was one of the first 
psychologists to approach the question of personality scientifically and her work 
earned her international recognition. Among Downey's other interests were crea- 
tivity, voluntary and involuntary motor controls, color-blindness, imagery, and 
esthetics. She spent her entire career at the University of Wyoming and contributed 
to the growth and development of that school and the program in psychology. 
During her tenure, she was one of the few faculty members in the school who 
had a doctorate and was actively engaged in research. The university had few 
graduate students at the time, but she was able to secure the enthusiastic assistance 
of undergrads in conducting her research. 

Downey studied both psychology and philosophy, but became interested in 
experimental procedures in psychology during a summer session spent at Cornell. 
She was not associated with a particular school of psychological thought and had a 
variety of research interests, but was particularly known for her early work on the 
analysis of personality through handwriting, the subject of her doctoral disserta- 
tion. Her research involved analysis of automatic phenomena, muscle reading 
(or body language), the reading and writing of mirror script, writing under distrac- 
tion, the retention of writing skill after lapse of practice, handwriting disguise, and 
pen lapses. These studies resulted in development of the Downey Individual Will- 
Temperament Test. The test does not result in a total score; the scores are plotted 
on a graph, resulting in a "will-profile" for each case. Downey determined that 
there were three main personality types: the "hairtrigger" or spontaneous type, 
the "willful" or decisive type, and the "accurate" or methodical type. The work 
was summarized in her books, Graphology and Psychology of Handwriting 
(1919) and The Will-Temperament and Its Testing (1924). 

Downey was one of the first women elected to the Society of Experimentalists, a 
select group of 50 eminent psychologists. She served on the Council of the American 
Psychological Association (1923-1925) and was a fellow of the American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science. In addition to publishing 6 books and nearly 
70 scholarly papers, her literary output included numerous short stories, poems, 
and plays. Downey came from a pioneer Wyoming family. Her father was one of 
the founders of the University of Wyoming and president of the board of regents. 
She also wrote the song "Alma Mater" for the university in 1898. 



352 | Drake, Elisabeth (Mertz) 



Further Resources 



Hogan, John D. and Matthew S. Broudy. 2000. "June Etta Downey." The Feminist Psy- 
chologist, Newsletter of the Society for the Psychology of Women, Division 35 of the 
American Psychological Association. 27(2). (Spring 2000). http://www. psych 
.yorku.ca/femhop/June%20Etta%20Downey.htm. 



Drake, Elisabeth (Mertz) 

b. 1936 

Chemical Engineer 

Education: B.S., chemical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
1958, D.Sc, chemical engineering, 1966 

Professional Experience: staff consultant and engineer, cryogenics and chemical 
engineering, Arthur D. Little, Inc., 1958-1980, vice president of technological risk 
management, 1980-1982; professor and chair, chemical engineering, Northeastern 
University, 1982-1986; vice president and leader, safety, health, and environmental 
practice, Arthur D. Little, Inc., 1986-1988; independent consultant, technological 
risk management, 1988-1990; associate director of new technologies, Energy 
Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1990-2001 (director, 
1994-1995), emeritus staff, Laboratory for Energy and the Environment, MIT, 
2001-2007, emeritus staff, Energy Initiative, MIT, 2007- 

Concurrent Positions: lecturer, chemical engineering, University of California, 
Berkeley, 1971; visiting associate professor, chemical engineering, MIT, 1973- 
1974 

Elisabeth Drake is a chemical engineer who is known for her expertise in safety 
standards and other aspects of environmental safety. Very early in her career, in 
1972, she invented a fractionation method and apparatus. Fractionation separates a 
mixture into ingredients or into portions having different properties, and an appara- 
tus of this type is a valuable contribution to the chemical industry. After receiving 
her undergraduate degree, she accepted a position at Arthur D. Little, Inc., an 
international management and technology consulting firm. Her early work was 
involved in cryogenics, which is the branch of physics that deals with very low tem- 
peratures. The term "cryogenics" was coined about 1955 or 1960, which means that 
she was working on the cutting edge of research and development in this new field. 
Drake was promoted to the senior staff after she completed her doctorate. She 
switched fields to be manager of risk analysis and then vice president of technical 
risk management. Risk management is the technique of assessing, minimizing, 



Dreschhoff, Gisela Auguste-Marie | 353 

and preventing accidental loss to a business through the use of safety measures, 
insurance, and so forth. She accepted a position as chair of the Chemical Engineer- 
ing Department at Northeastern University in 1982, then returned to work at 
A. D. Little as vice president of technical risk management. She continued to con- 
sult for the company after she left in 1990 to join the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology as associate director of new technology in the Energy Laboratory, 
becoming director between 1994 and 1995. 

She has long been active in committees on safety standards. She was a member 
of the Technical Pipeline Safety Standards Committee of the U.S. Department of 
Transportation from 1980 to 1985 and a member of the managing board of the 
Center for Chemical Process Safety from 1988 to 1990. She has been vice chair 
of the committee that reviews and evaluates the U.S. Army's chemical stockpile 
disposal program of the National Research Council since 1993. 

She was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering in 
1992. She is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and a 
member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the 
American Chemical Society. Her research interests include energy technology, 
risk assessment and control of hazardous material, liquefied natural gas technol- 
ogy and safety, cryogenic engineering, and risk management. 



Dreschhoff, Gisela Auguste-Marie 

b. 1938 

Radiation Physicist, Geophysicist 

Education: B.S., Technical University of Braunschweig, 1961, M.S., 1965, Ph.D., 
physics, 1972 

Professional Experience: staff scientist, radiation protection, Physikalisch 
Technisch Bundesanstalt, Germany, 1965-1967; research associate, nuclear waste 
disposal, Kansas Geological Survey, 1971-1972; deputy director, Radiation 
Physics Laboratory, Space Technology Center, University of Kansas, 1972-1984, 
co-director, 1984-, adjunct associate professor of geology 

Concurrent Positions: visiting assistant professor, physics, University of Kansas, 
1972-1974, adjunct assistant professor, 1974-; associate professional manager, 
Division of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, 1978- 

Gisela Dreschhoff is a geophysicist whose areas of research include nuclear waste 
disposal, reactor radiation protection, and geophysics of the polar regions. She is 



354 | Dreschhoff, Gisela Auguste-Marie 

renowned for her research in Antarctica to survey for radioactive uranium, 
thorium, and potassium. Dreschhoff completed the requirements for her doctorate 
while working as a research associate and then as a visiting assistant professor of 
physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas. In 1972, she was appointed 
deputy director of the Radiation Physics Laboratory at Kansas, where she collabo- 
rated for many years with her husband, Edward Zeller, also a geophysicist, for 
whom the Zeller Glacier in Antarctica was named (Zeller died in 1996). In 1978, 
Dreschhoff was appointed by the National Science Foundation to coordinate and 
manage the airborne surveys for the entire geophysics program that the foundation 
sponsored there. The project was the start of a general radiometric survey to deter- 
mine the distribution of uranium, thorium, and radioactive potassium, if any, and 
formulate international policy to govern the future use of resources buried under 
the polar ice. The survey was planned to last at least five years, and the team exper- 
imented with a new system that combined airborne surveys with on-the-ground 
measurements. 

After completing her undergraduate training at Braunschweig, Dreschhoff 
obtained a position as a staff scientist at Physikalisch Technisch Bundesanstalt in 
Germany, where she was involved in safety procedures to be used around nuclear 
reactors. In 1965, she was measuring the levels of radioactive fission products in 
German air, soil, water, and plants. In 1967, when she attended a conference spon- 
sored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, she met an American scientist 
from the University of Kansas who was working on the effects of radiation on 
solid bodies in space. He had several contracts from the National Aeronautics 
and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Air Force and offered her a job. 
Because she speaks fluent German as well as English and French, she was a valu- 
able participant in international research projects. 

Until the late 1960s, American women scientists were not permitted to conduct 
research in Antarctica, although women from other countries were permitted to do 
so by their respective governments. The reasoning behind the prohibition was that 
the only transportation to Antarctica was provided by the U.S. Navy, and that civil- 
ian women would not be transported, although there had been a few American 
women who had financed their own trips. At one point, she was the only woman 
living at a remote base during the research season with 15 other scientists and 
an equal number of naval personnel. Dreschhoff is a member of the American 
Physical Society, American Geophysical Union, American Polar Society, 
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Explorers' Club, and 
U.S. Naval Institute. 

Further Resources 

Land, Barbara. 1981. The New Explorers: Women in Antarctica. New York: Dodd, Mead. 



Dresselhaus, Mildred (Spiewak) | 355 

Dresselhaus, Mildred (Spiewak) 

b. 1930 
Solid-State Physicist 

Education: B.A., Hunter College, 1951; M.A., Radcliffe College, 1953; Ph.D., 
physics, University of Chicago, 1958 

Professional Experience: Fulbright fellow, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge 
University, 1951-1952; National Science Foundation fellow, Cornell University, 
1958-1960; staff member, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology (MIT), 1960-1967, Abby Rockefeller Mauze Visiting Professor, electrical 
engineering and computer science, 1967-1968, professor, 1968-1973, associate 
department head, 1972-1974, Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of Electrical 
Engineering, 1973-1985, director, Center for Materials Science and Engineering, 
1977-1983, professor, physics, 1983-1985, Institute Professor, MIT, 1985- 

Concurrent Positions: director, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy, 
2000-2001 

Mildred Dresselhaus is a physicist renowned for her research on electronic proper- 
ties of materials such as semiconductors and semimetals. Solid-state physicists 
deal with matter in a condensed state, not in gaseous or liquid form, a new area 
of research when Dresselhaus began her career in the 1950s. The launch of the 
Russian satellite Sputnik in 1957 sparked an interest in the United States in 
research on new materials, including superconductors, such as lead and tin. Her 
most important work, starting in the 1980s, was done on analyzing carbon. She 
and her associates found that carbon contained hollow clusters, each containing 
60 atoms. These clusters are called Buckminster Fullerenes (named for the scien- 
tist Buckminster Fuller), or Buckeyballs, because of their shape. They are impor- 
tant for their potential use as a delivery system for drugs and as an extremely 
strong form of wire tubing. 

After completing her doctorate at the University of Chicago, she married Gene 
Dresselhaus, a fellow physics student. He had already accepted a position at 
Cornell University, and she accepted a National Science Foundation fellowship to 
work there. After two years, the couple found joint appointments at Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, where, in 1977, she was named director of the Center 
for Materials Science and Engineering. She went on to hold a joint appointment as 
professor in engineering and physics. At MIT, she has also been committed to 
encouraging more women to pursue the sciences and engineering. 

Dresselhaus has the distinction of having been elected to membership in both 
the National Academy of Engineering (1974) and the National Academy of 



356 | Dunbar, Bonnie J. 

Sciences (1985). She is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- 
ences and the American Physical Society (president, 1984), and a member of the 
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Society of Women 
Engineers (SWE). She has received numerous honorary doctorates, and her other 
prestigious awards include the National Medal of Science (1990), the Weizmann 
Institute Millenial Lifetime Achievement Award (2000), the Nicholson Medal of 
the American Physical Society (2000), the Karl T. Compton Medal for Leadership 
in Physics from the American Institute of Physics (2001), the Founders Medal of 
the IEEE (2004), and the Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy, and Employ- 
ment (2005). In 2007, she was named the North American Laureate for the 
L'Oreal-UNESCO Awards for Women, and in 2009, she received the Vannevar 
Bush Award of the National Science Board for public service as a scientist. 

Further Resources 

Byers, Nina and Gary A. Williams. 2006. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth- 
Century Women to Physics. New York: Cambridge University Press. 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Faculty website, http://web.mit.edu/physics/ 
people/faculty /dresselhaus mildred.html. 



Dunbar, Bonnie J. 

b. 1949 

Biomedical Engineer, Ceramics Engineer, Astronaut 

Education: B.S., ceramic engineering, University of Washington, 1971, M.S., 
ceramic engineering, 1975; Ph.D., biomedical engineering, University of Houston, 
1983 

Professional Experience: staff engineer, Boeing Computer Services, 1971-1973; 
senior research engineer, Space Division, Rockwell International, 1976-1978; 
staff engineer, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 
1978-1980, astronaut, 1981-1998, assistant director, University Research and 
Affairs, 1998-2003; deputy associate director, Biological Sciences and Applica- 
tions, 2003-2005; associate director, Technology Integration and Risk Management, 
2005; president and CEO, Museum of Flight, 2005- 

Concurrent Positions: visiting scientist, Harwell Laboratories, England, 1975; 
adjunct assistant professor, mechanical engineering, University of Houston 

Bonnie J. Dunbar has spent more hours in space than any of the other women 
astronauts except Shannon Lucid. Dunbar joined NASA as a staff engineer in 



Dunbar, Bonnie J. | 357 



1978 and performed key guidance and 
flight control duties for the Skylab 
reentry mission in 1979. She was 
accepted for the astronaut training pro- 
gram in 1980, one of the eight original 
women astronauts. Her first shuttle 
flight was aboard STS-61-A Chal- 
lenger in October 1985. On STS-32 
in 1990, she had the major respon- 
sibility for the Remote Manipulator 
System (RMS) to retrieve a satellite. 
As payload commander for the 1992 
space shuttle Columbia flight, she 
oversaw experiments in materials 
science, fluid dynamics, combustion 
science, and biotechnology. She flew 
a fourth mission on STS-71 in 1995. 
Her last flight as an astronaut was as 
a member of the Endeavour crew 
that picked up David Wolf when he 
completed his Mir assignment in 
1998. Dunbar retired from NASA in 
2005 and became president and CEO 
of the Museum of Flight in Seattle, 

Washington, where, in 2008, she held an event called WomenFlyl to encourage 
and showcase careers of women in aerospace and aviation. Her husband, Ronald 
M. Sega, is also an astronaut, engineer, and physicist with NASA. 

Dunbar became fascinated with space flight as a child and, encouraged by a 
teacher, studied all of the math and science courses that were available in high 
school. At the University of Washington, there were only 6 women in the class 
of 2,000 engineering students. She originally planned to major in aeronautical 
engineering, but the head of the Ceramic Engineering Department, who had 
received a NASA contract to work on thermal insulation systems for the space 
shuttle, was recruiting students, and she switched to that program. As a graduate 
student, she had a short appointment as a visiting scientist at Harwell Laboratories 
in England to do research on turbine blades in aircraft engines, which must with- 
stand extremely high temperatures. She joined the Rockwell International Space 
Division, the prime contractor for the space shuttle, to help develop equipment 
and processes for the manufacture of the space shuttle's ceramic-tile heat shield. 




Astronaut Bonnie Dunbar prepares for a 
mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, 
1998. (NASA) 



358 | Dunbar, Bonnie J. 

After joining the NASA astronaut program, she went on to pursue her Ph.D. in 
bioengineering, studying the effect of space flight on bone strength and calcium. 
Dunbar was elected to the National Academy of Engineers in 2002. Among her 
numerous awards and honors, she has received the Rockwell International Engi- 
neer of the Year (1977), American Ceramic Society (ACS) Greaves- Walker Award 
(1985), NASA Space Flight Medals (1985, 1990, 1992, 1995, and 1998), NASA 
Exceptional Service Medal (1988, 1991, and 1996), National Engineering Award 
of the American Association of Engineering Societies (1992), Museum of Flight 
Pathfinder Award (1992), Design News's Engineering Achievement Award 
(1993), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Judith Resnik 
Award (1993), Society of Women Engineers Resnik Challenger Medal (1993), 
NASA Outstanding Leadership Award (1993), and James I. Mueller Award of 
the ACS (2000). She was a member of the National Science Foundation (NSF) 
Engineering Advisory Board (1993-1999) and has been inducted into the Women 
in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame (2000). She is a member of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Ceramic 
Society, Biomedical Engineering Society, Materials Research Society, National 
Institute of Ceramic Engineers, Arnold Air Society, and Angel Flight. 

Further Resources 

Kevles, Bettyann H. 2003. Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space. New York: 
Basic Books. 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "Bonnie J. Dunbar (Ph.D.)" http://www 
.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/dunbar.html. 



E 



Earle, Sylvia Alice 



b. 1935 

Marine Botanist, Oceanographer, Environmentalist 

Education: B.S., Florida State University, 1955; M.A., Duke University, 1956, 
Ph.D., botany, 1966 

Professional Experience: research biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
1957; instructor, biology, St. Petersburg Junior College, 1963-1964; research asso- 
ciate, marine biology, Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, 1964-1965, resident director, 
1966-1967, senior research associate, 1967-; instructor, Tulane University, 1968; 
research fellow, Farlow Herbarium, Harvard University, 1967-1975, researcher, 
1975-; research scholar, Radcliffe Institute for Independent study, 1967-1969; 
research associate, botany, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 
1970-1975; research biologist and curator, California Academy of Sciences, 
1976-; research associate, University of California, Berkeley, 1969-1975; chief 
scientist, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
1990-1992, advisor to the administrator, 1992-1993; founder, director, and officer, 
Deep Ocean Technology, Inc., and Deep Ocean Engineering, Inc., 1981-1990; 
founder and chair, Deep Ocean Exploration and Research (DOER), 1992-; direc- 
tor, Sustainable Seas Expeditions, National Geographic/NOAA/Goldman Founda- 
tion, 1999-2003; program director, Harte Research Institute for the Gulf of 
Mexico, Texas A&M University, 2000-; executive director, Global Marine Conser- 
vation, Conservation International, 2001- 

Concurrent Positions: fellow in botany, Natural History Museum, 1989-; direc- 
tor, Kerr-McGee Corporation, 1998-; explorer in residence, National Geographic, 
1998-; director, Common Heritage Corporation, 1999- 

Sylvia Earle is known internationally as a marine botanist and oceanographer. She 
was the first female chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA); during her tenure there, she led investigations into the 
pollution of the Persian Gulf that resulted from Iraq's burning of the Kuwait oil 
refineries. She also studied the pollution of Prince William Sound, Alaska, after 



359 



360 | Earle, Sylvia Alice 

the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground there in 1989. Earle eventually earned 
the nickname "Her Deepness" for her record-breaking and numerous dives, 
including a 1979 dive to 1,250 feet in which she spent two and a half hours on 
the ocean floor. 

Earle spent part of her childhood on a farm in New Jersey, where she studied the 
aquatic life in a pond on the property. Later, when the family moved to Florida, she 
had the entire Gulf of Mexico as her backyard and learned to scuba dive at a time 
when very few people dove recreationally and marine biologists were just taking 
advantage of new diving technologies. Earle graduated from high school at 
16 and quickly went on to college and then graduate school at Duke University, 
where she studied algae. In 1964, she was invited to join an expedition to the 
Indian Ocean sponsored by the National Science Foundation, and in 1966, the year 
she received her Ph.D., she became resident director of the Cape Haze Marine 
Laboratory. 

In 1970, Earle was appointed team leader of the group of women oceanogra- 
phers who lived underwater for two weeks in Tektite II. The purpose was not only 
to observe the marine environment but also to determine the effects of isolation on 
aquanauts as a way for NASA to plan for the needs of astronauts on future space 
flights. The sponsors would not allow male and female scientists to live together 
and, although there were 16 tests involving all-male teams, the women's test 
received the most publicity. As team leader, Earle received invitations to give 
speeches and publish articles, providing important opportunities to talk about her 
research on the environment and marine life. 

In 1982, she formed a company, Deep Ocean Engineering, with Graham 
Hawkes, an engineer who had designed a special dive suit worn by Earle. Their 
company designed and manufactured the Deep Rover, an easily maneuverable, 
relatively inexpensive, one-person submersible capable of going to an ocean depth 
of 3,000 feet. Earle was one of the first three individuals to test it and, although she 
and Hawkes were married but then divorced, she remains involved in the operation 
of the company. In 1990, she became chief scientist at NOAA, but she left the 
position to work independently again. In 1999, she returned to a project sponsored 
by NOAA and National Geographic, a five-year study of the National Marine 
Sanctuary called the Sustainable Seas Expedition. 

In addition to her numerous magazine articles, ocean atlases, and children's 
books, Earle's other books include Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans (1996) 
and The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are One (2009). She is a 
corporate member of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and was the first 
woman to receive the Lowell Thomas Award of the Explorers' Club (1980). She is 
a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a 
member of the International Phycological Society, Phycological Society of 



Eastwood, Alice | 36 1 

America, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, American Institute 
of Biological Sciences, and Ecological Society of America. She was inducted into 
the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2000. She is listed as "Sylvia Mead" in some 
sources. 

Further Resources 

Harte Research Institute. "Dr. Sylvia Earle." http://www.harteresearchinstitute.org/ 
index. php?option=com content&view=article&id=98%3Adr-sylvia-earle-&catid=19 
%3 Aadvisory-board&Itemid=29 1 . 



Eastwood, Alice 

1859 1953 
Botanist 

Education: public schools 

Professional Experience: high school teacher, Denver, 1879-1890; curator of 
botany, California Academy of Sciences, 1892-1950 

Alice Eastwood was one of the most knowledgeable systematic botanists of her 
time. She was curator of botany at the California Academy of Sciences for more 
than 50 years and was a specialist on the flowering plants of the Rocky Mountains 
and the California coast. In a study of 100 prominent American botanists in 1903, 
she was one of only two women named. While teaching high school in Denver, she 
acquired an extensive knowledge of botany by exploring various areas of 
Colorado. She was invited in 1892 to join Kate Brandegee, curator of botany at 
the California Academy of Sciences, and later succeeded her as curator. Both were 
members of a group of prominent botanists who were working in California at the 
turn of the century. In 1 893, Eastwood published, at her own expense, Popular Flora 
of Denver, Colorado. In 1905, she wrote A Handbook of the Trees of California. In 
1932, she and J. T. Howell founded and edited the journal Leaflets of Western 
Botany. This was an important outlet for the active research that was being con- 
ducted in the western United States. She founded the California Botanical Club 
and directed its activities thereafter. In addition to her work at the Academy, she 
was able to perform extensive fieldwork in California and added hundreds of speci- 
mens to the collection. 

After the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, Eastwood spent several 
years rebuilding the botanical collections at the California Academy of Sciences. 
She verified the descriptions of specimens by visits to the British Museum, the 



362 | Eastwood, Alice 



Kate Brandegee 

Mary Katharine Layne Curran Brandegee (1844-1920) was one of the outstand- 
ing women botanists in the United States in the nineteenth century and was a 
leading authority on California plants. After her first husband died in 1874, she 
obtained an M.D. from the University of California at San Francisco. The curricu- 
lum included training in the medicinal uses of plants and, after practicing medi- 
cine for a few years, she joined the California Academy of Sciences. She 
began actively collecting specimens and in 1883 became curator of the herba- 
rium, a position she held for 10 years, and one of the highest-level botany posi- 
tions for a woman at that time. In this post, she edited and published a series of 
botanical Bulletins. Later, with her husband Townshend Brandegee, a civil engi- 
neer and plant collector, she co-founded Zoe, a journal of the natural history of 
the west coast. In 1898, the Brandegees moved to San Diego, where they built 
their own botanical library and herbarium. They returned to San Francisco in 
1906 when Townshend Brandegee accepted a position as honorary curator at 
the University of California. They spent the rest of their lives at the herbarium, 
without salary, donating their library and collection of over 75,000 specimens 
to the university. 



Royal Botanic Gardens, the Natural History Museum at Paris, Harvard University, 
the New York Botanical Garden, and the National Herbarium. Between 1912 and 
her retirement in 1950, over 340,000 specimens were added to the herbarium. 
One of her goals was to verify the classification of tropical and subtropical exotics 
grown in California. She also was responsible for developing the Academy's vast 
botanical library, which included many volumes she contributed from her personal 
collection. 

Eastwood published about 300 scientific papers. Among the honors she received 
was being elected honorary president of the Seventh International Botanical 
Congress in Stockholm in 1950. She was a member of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, the Botanical Society of America, and the Ecological 
Society of America. Carol G. Wilson wrote a biography, Alice Eastwood's Wonder- 
land: The Adventures of a Botanist (1955). 

Further Resources 

Bonta, Marcia M. 1995. American Women Afield: Writings by Pioneering Women Natural- 
ists. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 

Rudolph, Emanuel D. 1982. "Women in Nineteenth Century American Botany: A Gener- 
ally Unrecognized Constituency." American Journal of Botany. 69(8): 1346 1355. 



Edwards, Cecile Hoover | 363 

Edinger, Tilly 

1897 1967 
Paleontologist 

Education: University of Heidelberg and University of Munich, 1916-1918; 
Ph.D., natural philosophy, University of Frankfurt, 1921 

Professional Experience: research assistant, paleontology, University of Frankfurt, 
1921-1927; curator, vertebrate collection, Senckenberg Museum of Frankfurt, 
1927-1938; translator, 1939; research associate, Museum of Comparative Zoology, 
Harvard University, 1940-1967 

Tilly Edinger was the first person to perform systematic work on the study of fossil 
brains. She proved that the brain's evolution could be studied directly from fossils. 
She recognized that the evolution of the brain must be studied directly from the 
fossils and that mammals' brains are uniquely suited to such study. She theorized 
that the evolution of the brain was more complex than other paleontogists had 
stated. She worked for a number of years as curator of the vertebrate collection, 
without pay, in the museum in Frankfurt, Germany. Five years after the Nazis 
came to power, she was forced to flee the country due to her Jewish heritage. She 
came to Harvard because the school had designated funds for the temporary employ- 
ment of displaced European scholars. She spent the rest of her life at Harvard's 
Museum of Comparative Zoology. She published the first of her major works while 
still in Germany: Die Fossilen Gehirne (1929). Her second book, The Evolution of 
the Horse Brain (1948), was published while she was at Harvard. 

Edinger virtually established the field of paleoneurology, the study of fossil brains. 
Her father was a famous medical researcher who helped found the science of compa- 
rative neurology. She did not originally intend to follow in his footsteps. She planned 
to study geology but, fearing there were few employment opportunities in that field 
for women, she switched to vertebrate paleontology and ultimately ranked among 
the major figures in her field. She was elected president of the Society of Vertebrate 
Paleontology (1963-1964) and received honorary degrees from Wellesley College 
(1950), the University of Giessen (1957), and the University of Frankfurt (1964). 

Edwards, Cecile Hoover 

1926 2005 
Nutritionist, Biochemist 

Education: B.S., Tuskegee Institute, 1946, M.S., 1947; Ph.D., nutrition, Iowa State 
University, 1950; diplomate, human nutrition, American Board of Nutrition, 1963 



364 | Edwards, Cecile Hoover 

Professional Experience: research associate, nutrition, Iowa State University, 
1949-1950; assistant professor and research associate, foods and nutrition, Tuske- 
gee Institute, 1950-1956, department head, 1952-1956; professor, nutrition, North 
Carolina A&T State University, 1956-1971, department chair, home economics, 
1968-1971; department chair, home economics, Howard University, 1971-1974, 
dean, School of Human Ecology, 1974-1986, professor, nutrition, 1971-2000 

Concurrent Positions: dean, School of Continuing Education, Howard Univer- 
sity, 1986-1987; collaborator, Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics, 
Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1952-1955; 
adjunct professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1971; project direc- 
tor, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 1985-1989 

Cecile Edwards was a researcher and educator who devoted her career to improv- 
ing the nutrition and well-being of disadvantaged people. She accepted a position 
at Howard University in 1971 as chair of the Department of Home Economics, but 
was assigned the task of designing a new curriculum for the School of Human 
Ecology. In 1969, Arthur Jensen had advanced the theory in a scientific paper that 
blacks were genetically inferior and that providing education, nutrition, and other 
resources could not bring them into equality. Edwards's major goal was to dis- 
prove the Jensen hypothesis. Her school evaluated programs that provided 
resources for low-income people and taught parenting, childcare, nutrition, budg- 
eting, and job skills as part of a comprehensive approach. She was ultimately 
responsible for helping to establish the Ph.D. program in nutrition at Howard 
University. 

Edwards enrolled in the Tuskegee Institute at the age of 15 with a major in 
home economics and went on to earn graduate degrees in nutrition and chemistry, 
in particular studying methionine, an essential amino acid. She returned to Tuske- 
gee as a faculty member and research associate and was appointed head of the 
Department of Foods and Nutrition in 1952. She later expanded her research to 
the amino acid composition of food, the utilization of protein from vegetarian 
diets, and the planning of well-balanced and nutritious diets, especially for low- 
income and disadvantaged people both in the United States and abroad. 

Starting in 1985, Edwards directed a five-year project sponsored by the 
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to study the nutri- 
tional, medical, psychological, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors that influence 
pregnancy outcomes for low-income and minority women. She served on numer- 
ous commissions and committees involving human health and nutrition and was 
a member of the American Institute of Nutrition, American Home Economics 
Association, Society for Nutrition Education, and American Dietetic Association. 
In 1984, her home state of Illinois declared April 5 as "Dr. Cecile Hoover Edwards 



Edwards, Helen Thorn | 365 

Day," and in 2000, the Illinois legislature passed a resolution honoring Edwards 
upon her retirement from Howard University. 



Edwards, Helen Thorn 

b. 1936 
Accelerator Physicist 

Education: B.A., Cornell University, 1957, M.A., 1963, Ph.D., physics, 1966 

Professional Experience: research associate, Laboratory for Nuclear Studies, 
Cornell University, 1958-1970; research, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 
1970-1987, head, Accelerator Division, 1987-1989; head and associate director, 
Superconducting Division, Superconducting Supercollider Laboratory, 1989- 
1992; guest scientist, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Office of Science, 
Department of Energy, 1992- 

Helen Edwards is an internationally renowned physicist who supervises the design 
and building of accelerators. She has been responsible for two of the largest in the 
United States: the Tevatron at Fermi Laboratory (Fermilab) in Illinois and the 
Superconducting Supercollider in Texas. Unfortunately, the latter project has 
never been completed due to lack of Congressional funding, but she divides her 
time between Fermilab (where her husband, Don Edwards, is also a physicist) 
and the Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, Germany. Her 
goal is to develop an international superconducting linear collider to enable 
scientists to gather data on the nature of subatomic particles. The construction of 
a particle accelerator is a complicated operation requiring the effort of hundreds 
of people. Edwards has served as a chief designer, group leader, and project 
coordinator at these laboratories. 

Edwards pursued her graduate studies at Cornell due to the school's 
international reputation for pioneering work in the construction of particle acceler- 
ators. She was appointed a research associate in the Laboratory for Nuclear Stud- 
ies, where she was primarily responsible for commissioning (or ensuring that it 
was in operating order) the 12-GeV electron synchrotron. A synchrotron, which 
also is called an atom smasher or particle accelerator, is an electrostatic or 
electromagnetic device that produces high-energy particles and focuses them on 
a target. The GeV is a unit of measurement for the energy level of accelerated par- 
ticles equivalent to a billion electron volts. In 1970, Edwards was invited to join 
the research team at the Fermi Laboratory, where she was instrumental in commis- 
sioning the 400-GeV main accelerator and commissioning auxiliary equipment. 



366 | Ehrlich, Anne (Fitzhugh) Howland 

In 1987, she was one of the supervisors assigned to oversee the completion of the 
world's highest-energy superconducting particle accelerator, called the Tevatron. 
This accelerator can produce an energy level of 1 TeV, the equivalent of 1,000 
GeV, as it collides protons and antiprotons moving in opposite directions. 

Edwards was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1988. She has 
received the U.S. Department of Energy's Ernest O. Lawrence Award (1986) and a 
prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (1988). She was a co-recipient of the President's 
National Medal of Technology (1989) and in 2003 received the Robert R. Wilson 
Prize of the American Physical Society "for her pivotal achievement and critical 
contribution as the leader in the design, construction, commissioning and opera- 
tion of the Tevatron, and for her continued contributions to the development of 
high-gradient superconducting linear accelerators as well as bright and intense 
electron sources." 

Further Resources 

Byers, Nina and Gary A. Williams. 2006. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth- 
Century Women to Physics. New York: Cambridge University Press. 



Ehrlich, Anne (Fitzhugh) Howland 

b. 1933 

Environmental Scientist, Author 

Education: student, University of Kansas, 1952-1955 

Professional Experience: technician, entomology, University of Kansas, 1955; 
research assistant and biological illustrator, biological sciences, Stanford Univer- 
sity, 1959-1972, research associate, 1972-1975, senior research associate, 
1975-; associate director/policy coordinator, Center for Conservation Biology, 
Stanford University, 1987- 

Concurrent Positions: consultant, Council on Environmental Quality, 1977- 
1980; instructor, biology and environmental policy, Stanford University, 1981- 

Anne Ehrlich has had a great impact on the debates about population growth, food 
resources, extinction of species, and human ecology. In 1984, her husband, Paul R. 
Ehrlich, a professor of biological sciences and population studies, founded the 
Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University, and in 1987, Anne was 
appointed Policy Director. Anne Ehrlich has authored or co-authored more than 
10 books on controversial topics. In one of the couple's most recent books, 



Ehrlich, Anne (Fitzhugh) Howland | 367 




Betrayal of Science & Reason: How 
Anti- Environmental Rhetoric Threatens 
Our Future (1996), they argue that 
overpopulation, global warming, and 
natural resource limits continue to 
threaten human life and the planet. 

The Ehrlichs have been especially 
criticized for their population fore- 
casts and ominous warnings. In 
1968, when they published The Popu- 
lation Bomb, there were 3.5 billion 
human beings. The Ehrlichs warned 
that the planet could not support that 
number of people and predicted that 
in the 1970s, famines would result in 
millions of human deaths. In fact, 
their critics pointed out, the decade 
saw food production soar worldwide, 
prices dropped, and growers experi- 
enced a surplus. But the Ehrlichs issued 
a sequel, The Population Explosion, 
in 1990; by that time, world popula- 
tion was at 5.3 billion, and they stated that the excess numbers of people had over- 
loaded both the environment and human communities, and the result will be global 
warming, acid rain, a larger hole in the ozone layer, crime, viral epidemics, and 
homelessness. While it is difficult to find consensus on the extent or urgency of 
such problems as related to population increases, many of the environmental prob- 
lems the Ehrlichs warned about have become prominent concerns and political 
issues of the twenty-first century. 

Anne Ehrlich has served as a consultant for or member of numerous government 
and academic committees and organizations, including the White House Council on 
Environmental Quality's Global 2000 Report (1980), Conferences on the Fate 
of the Earth (1981-1984), the Center for Innovative Diplomacy (1981-1992), the 
President's Commission on Sustainable Development (1994-1995), the Rocky 
Mountain Biological Laboratory (1989-1999), the Ploughshares Fund (1990-2003), 
and the Sierra Club (1996-2002). She has also served on numerous advisory panels 
and was on the editorial board of Pacific Discovery, the journal of the California Acad- 
emy of Sciences (1998-1994). 

The Ehrlichs have received numerous honors and awards together, including the 
American Humanist Association Distinguished Service Award (1985), the United 



Anne Ehrlich is a biologist specializing in 
population issues. She is policy coordinator 
of the Center for Conservation Biology at 
Stanford University. (Stanford University) 



368 | Elders, (Minnie) Joycelyn (Jones) 

Nations Environment Programme Prize (1994), the Heinz Award for Environmental 
Achievement (1995), and the Distinguished Peace Leader Award of the Nuclear 
Age Peace Foundation (1996). When the couple won the Tyler Prize for Environ- 
mental Achievement (1998), they used a portion of their prize money to buy and 
restore a piece of eroded land in Costa Rica. Anne Ehrlich has also received sev- 
eral awards for her separate work, including being named to the Global 500 Roll 
of Honour for Environmental Achievement of the United Nations (1989). She is 
an honorary fellow of the California Academy of Science, an honorary lifetime 
member of the American Humanist Association, and a fellow of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has received honorary doctorates from 
Bethany College (1990) and Oregon State University (1999). 

Further Resources 

Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University. Staff website. http://www 
.stanford.edu/group/CCB/Staff/anne.htm. 



Elders, (Minnie) Joycelyn (Jones) 

b. 1933 

Endocrinologist, Pediatrician 

Education: B.A., Philander Smith College, 1952; certified physical therapist, 
Brooks Army Medical School, 1954; M.D., University of Arkansas, 1960; diplo- 
mate, American Board of Pediatrics, 1964; M.S., biochemistry, University of 
Arkansas Medical School, 1967 

Professional Experience: intern, pediatrics, University of Minnesota Hospital, 
1960-1961; resident, Medical Center, University of Arkansas, 1961-1964, instruc- 
tor, 1964-1967, assistant professor, 1967-1971, associate professor, 1971-1974, 
professor of pediatrics, 1976-1987; Chief Public Health Director, Arkansas Depart- 
ment of Health, 1987-1993; Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and 
Human Services, 1993-1994; professor of pediatrics, College of Medicine, University 
of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 1994-2002, emerita, 2002- 

Concurrent Positions: research fellow, National Institute of Child Health and 
Human Development, 1964-1967 

Joycelyn Elders was the second woman and the first African American to be 
appointed to the post of Surgeon General of the United States, succeeding the first 
woman to hold the post, Antonia Novello. Her medical specialty is endocrinology, 



Elders, (Minnie) Joycelyn (Jones) | 369 




Endocrinologist and pediatrician Joycelyn Elders was the second woman and the first 
African American to be appointed Surgeon General of the United States, 1994. (AP/Wide 
World Photos) 



which is the branch of biology dealing with the endocrine glands and their secre- 
tions; this includes the thyroid, the adrenal, and the pituitary. Elders was a share- 
cropper's daughter in rural Arkansas who worked as a maid to pay her way 
through undergraduate school. After completing her residency, she joined the 
pediatrics faculty of the University of Arkansas Medical Center. In 1987, then- 
governor Bill Clinton appointed her director of the Arkansas Department of 
Health. In this position, she established school-based health clinics to combat the 
state's teen pregnancy rate, which was the second-highest in the nation. 

President Clinton appointed her Surgeon General in 1993. Her responsibilities 
were primarily to disseminate information about widespread health problems 
such as smoking-related illnesses and sexually transmitted diseases. She also 
managed the commissioned corps, a uniformed service whose members are 
assigned to medical trouble spots as needed. She was also responsible for the 
Public Health Service's offices of population affairs, minority health, and women's 
health, and the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Her time as 
surgeon general was plagued by controversy due to her support for controversial 
measures such as widespread condom distribution, sex education, abortion rights, 



370 | Elion, Gertrude Belle 

imposing higher excise taxes on alcohol as well as on tobacco, and the medical 
use of marijuana. In 1994, she was forced to resign after just 15 months in office 
under pressure from conservatives amid controversy over public comments in 
which she said that masturbation "is a part of human sexuality." She returned to 
the University of Arkansas Medical Center as a professor of pediatrics, retiring 
in 2002. 

Elders is a member of the Society for Pediatric Research, Endocrinology Society, 
and American Federation for Clinical Research. Her autobiography is Joycelyn 
Elders, M.D.: From Sharecropper's Daughter to Surgeon General of the United 
States of America (1996). 

Further Resources 

"Dr. M. Joycelyn Elders." Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America's Women 
Physicians. National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health, http:// 
www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography 98.html. 



Elion, Gertrude Belle 

1918 1999 
Biochemist 

Education: A.B., Hunter College, 1937; M.S., New York University, 1941 

Professional Experience: lab assistant, Biochemistry, School of Nursing, New 
York Hospital, 1937; assistant organic chemist, Denver Chemical Company, 
1938-1939; teacher, chemistry and physics, 1941-1942; analyst, food chemistry, 
Quaker Maid Company, 1942-1943; research chemist, Johnson & Johnson, 
1943-1944; senior research biochemist, Burroughs Wellcome Research Laborato- 
ries, 1944-1967, assistant to director, Chemotherapy Division, 1963-1967; head, 
Experimental Therapy, Burroughs Wellcome Company, 1967-1983, emerita sci- 
entist and consultant, 1983-1999 

Concurrent Positions: consultant, chemotherapy study section, U.S. Public 
Health Service, 1960-1964; adjunct professor, pharmacology and experimental 
medicine, Duke University, 1971-1983, research professor, 1983-1999 

Gertrude Elion was an organic chemist, pharmacologist, and leader in the field 
of purine antimetabolites for the treatment of cancer. Her research earned her 
the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1988. She and her collaborators 
developed drugs to interrupt the life cycle of abnormal cells while leaving 



Elion, Gertrude Belle | 371 




healthy cells unharmed, changing the 
course of pharmaceutical research. In 
her chemotherapy research, she syn- 
thesized and studied drugs used to 
treat leukemia and to ensure success- 
ful organ transplants. Her research 
was the basis for the development 
of AZT, the first drug approved by 
the Food and Drug Administration 
for AIDS patients, and she contrib- 
uted to the development of drugs for 
the treatment of malaria, gout, and 
viral and bacterial infections. She 
began working for Burroughs Well- 
come (now GlaxoSmithKline) in 
1944. Unlike many pharmaceutical 
companies, Burroughs Wellcome 
encouraged its scientists to publish 
their findings once patents had been 
registered, and she ultimately pub- 
lished more than 225 papers in her 
own name. 

Elion was one of the few scientists 
in the cancer research field, and one of the few Nobel Prize winners in science, 
who did not have a doctorate. She graduated from Hunter College summa cum 
laude, but 15 schools rejected her applications for a graduate assistantship because 
she was a woman. She held marginal jobs for several years until her great potential 
was recognized at Burroughs Wellcome. By that time, she had completed her 
master's degree and enrolled in classes toward her doctorate at Brooklyn Polytechnic 
Institute, which she attended for two years. The college expected her to enroll full- 
time, but she was unwilling to quit her job. She was awarded an honorary doctorate 
from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in 1989, one of numerous 
honorary degrees she received in her lifetime. 

Elion was awarded the highest and most prestigious honors bestowed upon sci- 
entists. She was awarded the Garvan Medal in 1968, the Nobel Prize in 1988 
(awarded jointly with her colleague and mentor George Hitchings), and the 
Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. Elion was elected to the 
National Academy of Sciences in 1990, and she was awarded the National Medal 
of Science in 1991. Also in 1991, she was the first woman inducted into the 
National Inventor's Hall of Fame. She was elected a fellow of the American 



George Hitchings, left, and Gertrude Elion, 
right, won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology 
or Medicine for their work developing drugs 
to fight cancer, AIDS, and other diseases. 
(AP/Wide World Photos) 



372 | Ellis, Florence May Hawley 

Academy of Pharmaceutical Scientists. She was a member of the American 
Chemical Society, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the American Society 
of Biological Chemists. 

Further Resources 

McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch. 1998. Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, 
and Momentous Discoveries. Secaucus, NJ: Birch Lane Press. 

Wasserman, Elga. 2002. The Door in the Dream: Conversations with Eminent Women in 
Science. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press. 



Ellis, Florence May Hawley 

1906 1991 
Anthropologist 

Education: A.B., University of Arizona, 1927, M.A., 1928; Ph.D., anthropology, 
University of Chicago, 1934 

Professional Experience: research associate, Arizona State Museum, 1928-1929; 
instructor, anthropology, University of Arizona, 1929-1933; assistant to associate 
professor, anthropology, University of New Mexico, 1934-1953, professor, 
1954-1971 

Concurrent Positions: adjunct associate professor, University of Chicago, 1937 
and 1938-1940; adjunct professor, Eckerd College, 1973 

Florence Ellis was known for her pioneer work on the dating of ceramics of the 
Southwest. She published her first papers in the 1920s, becoming one of the first 
women to establish herself in the study of early American culture. She originally 
enrolled as a history major at the University of Arizona, but feeling there were 
too many dates to remember, she switched to anthropology. Her master's thesis 
featured ceramics from three closely successive stages found in excavated sites 
near her hometown of Miami, Arizona. She was able not only to separate the 
sequential stages but also to suggest the possible Mexican relationship. After 
receiving her master's degree, she taught at Arizona in the anthropology depart- 
ment and continued her research. In addition to her skill at dating ceramics, she 
developed expertise in tree-ring dating (dendrochronology). Due to her special 
skills, she was on loan half-time to the University of Chicago to teach dendrochro- 
nology between 1937 and 1940. After receiving her doctorate, she accepted a posi- 
tion at the University of New Mexico, where she remained until her retirement. 



Elmegreen, Debra Meloy | 373 

Fortunately for Ellis, very little work had been reported on the history and pre- 
history of the Native Americans of New Mexico. In the 1960s and 1970s, she 
assisted in the definition of ancient tribal areas for most of the New Mexico and 
Arizona Pueblo tribes and for the Navajos. She had a major role in the Wetherill 
Mesa project to establish relationships between prehistoric culture and living 
peoples. She did extensive work in ethnography and ethnology, particularly in 
Pueblo and Navajo ethnography. She had close relationships with many Native 
Americans, who often permitted her to investigate areas that were closed to other 
ethnologists due to religious principles. 

In addition to scientific papers, Ellis published four books: The Significance of 
the Dated Prehistory of Chetro Ketl, Chaco Canyon, N. M. (1934), Field Manual 
of Prehistoric Southwestern Pottery Types (1936), Tree Ring Analysis and Dating 
in the Mississippi Drainage (1941), and A Reconstruction of the Basic Jemez 
Pattern of Social Organization (1964). She was a member of the Society for 
American Archaeology, American Society for Ethnohistory (president, 1969), 
Tree-Ring Society, New Mexico Archaeological Society, and Northern 
Arizona Society for Science and Art. She was active in museum work in New 
Mexico as a member of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation Board, and a 
teacher and consultant at the Ghost Ranch Museum, which now houses her per- 
sonal library and archaeological finds at the Florence Hawley Ellis Museum of 
Anthropology. She published as both Florence M. Hawley and Florence Hawley 
Ellis. 

Further Resources 

Florence Hawley Ellis Museum of Anthropology, http://www.ghostranch.org/museums 
--activities/florence-hawley-ellis-museum-of-anthropology.html. 



Elmegreen, Debra Meloy 

b. 1952 
Astronomer 

Education: B.A., astrophysics, Princeton University, 1975; M.A., astronomy, 
Harvard University, 1977, Ph.D., astronomy, 1979 

Professional Experience: research assistant, Thermophysics Division, Goddard 
Space Flight Center, 1969, Laboratory of Cosmic Ray Physics, Naval Research 
Laboratory, 1971-1972, Spectres Division, National Bureau of Standards, 1973, 
Kitt Peak National Observatory, 1974, Arecibo Observatory, 1975; teaching 



374 | Elmegreen, Debra Meloy 

fellow, Harvard University, 1977; Carnegie postdoctoral fellow, Mt. Wilson and 
Las Campanas Observatory, 1979-1981; visiting astronomer, Royal Greenwich 
Observatory and Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, 1981; visiting 
scientist, T. J. Watson Research Center, IBM Corporation, 1982-1988; assistant 
professor to professor, astronomy, Vassar College, 1985- 

Concurrent Positions: chair, Committee on Status of Women in Astronomy, 
American Astronomical Society; director, New York State Science Talent Search 

Debra Elmegreen is an astronomer whose research on spiral galaxies has resulted 
in a new method for classifying these galaxies. The primary feature of spiral 
galaxies is the waves that shape the spiral, waves that arise from the gravitational 
pulls within the galaxy. The Earth is part of a spiral galaxy, and researchers esti- 
mate that spiral galaxies represent about one-third of the estimated 100 billion gal- 
axies in the observable universe. The Earth's galaxy, typical of large spirals, 
contains about 200 billion stars spread mostly through its disk, which is 100,000 
light-years across and about 3,000 light-years thick. A gas, usually hydrogen 
gas, floats among the stars in the disk. Some of the gas forms clouds, with the 
largest clouds being concentrated in or near the spiral arms. In conjunction with 
her husband, astronomer Bruce Elmegreen, Debra Elmegreen has proposed a clas- 
sification scheme based on the size of the spiral arms, since all spirals have the 
same components. Because most galaxies seem to be tilted to our line of sight, 
the researchers use computer imaging to make the arms seem round and to 
enhance the contrast against the disk. 

After receiving her doctorate from Harvard University, she had a series of short 
appointments at several observatories and was a visiting scientist at IBM. Such a 
record of research often is just a reflection of the competition for employment in 
the field of astronomy, as astronomy and related fields receive small amounts of 
funding compared to the number of qualified people who are searching for posi- 
tions. She received an appointment as assistant professor of astronomy at Vassar 
College in 1985, and is now the Maria Mitchell Professor of Astronomy, named 
after the first American woman astronomer, Maria Mitchell, who served as the first 
director when the college's observatory was built in the 1860s. 

Elmegreen is a member of the American Astronomical Society, Royal Astro- 
nomical Society, and International Astronomical Union. Her textbook for under- 
graduate astronomy courses, Galaxies and Galactic Structure, was published in 
1998. Some of the images from her Hubble Telescope and National Aeronautics 
and Space Administration (NASA) Spitzer Space Telescope observations of spiral 
galaxies were selected as the Space Telescope Science Institute Heritage Image 
of the Month (November 1999) and the Astronomy Picture of the Day (1999 
and 2004). 



Emerson, Gladys Anderson | 375 

Further Resources 

Vassar College. Faculty website, http://faculty.vassar.edu/elmegree/. 

Clavin, Whitney. 2006. "Galaxies Don Mask of Stars in New Spitzer Image." Press 
release. http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2006-ll/release.shtml. 



Emerson, Gladys Anderson 

1903 1984 
Nutritionist, Biochemist 

Education: B.S., physics and chemistry, A.B., history and English, Oklahoma 
College for Women, 1925; M.A., history, Stanford University, 1926; Ph.D., nutri- 
tion and biochemistry, University of California, Berkeley, 1932 

Professional Experience: assistant, Stanford University, 1925-1926; teacher, 
social sciences, 1926-1929; assistant, Iowa State College, 1930-1931; research 
associate, Institute for Experimental Biology, University of California, Berkel